;  ^  NOV 


DC^~lTr".B264  1886  v.  1 
Baird,  Henry  Martyn,  1832- 
1906. 

The  Huguenots  and  Henry  of 
Navarre 


Digitized  by 

the  Internet  Archive 

in  2014 

https://archive.org/details/huguenotshenryof01  bair 


THE  HUGUENOTS 


HENRY  OF  NAVARRE 


THE  HUGUENOTS 

AND 

Henry  of  Navarre 


BY 

HENEY    M.  BAIRD 

PROFESSOR  IN  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  NEW  YORK  ;  AUTHOR  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF 
THE  RISE  OF  THE  HUGUENOTS  OF  FRANCE 


WITH  MAP  a 


VOIv.  I. 


NEW  YORK 
CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 
1886 


COPTRIGHT,  1886,  BY 
CHAELES  SCEIBNER'S  SONS 


TROW'3 

PRINTING  AND  BOOKBINDING  COMPANY, 
NEW  YORK. 


PREFACE. 


Ix  the  History  of  tlie  Hise  of  the  Ilngnenots  I  attempted  to 
trace  the  progress  of  tlie  Protestant  party  in  France  from  the 
feeble  and  obscure  beginnings  of  the  Reformation  to  the  close 
of  the  reign  of  Charles  the  Xinth  ;  when,  by  reason  of  heroic 
struggles,  and  of  the  fortitude  wherewith  persecution  and  treach- 
ei-y  had  been  endured,  the  Huguenots  had  gained  an  enviable 
place  in  the  respect  and  admiration  of  Christendom.  In  the 
present  work  I  have  undertaken  to  portray  the  subsequent  fort- 
unes of  the  same  valiant  people,  through  a  period  not  less 
critical  and  not  less  replete  with  varied  and  exciting  incident, 
down  to  the  formal  recognition  of  their  inalienable  rights  of 
conscience  in  a  fundamental  law  of  the  kingdom,  declared  to  be 
perpetual  and  irrevocable.  As  the  Massacre  of  St.  Bartholo- 
mew's Day  constituted  the  most  thrilling  occurrence  related  in 
the  former  volumes,  so  in  the  volumes  now  offered  to  the  public 
the  promulgation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  is  the  event  toward 
which  the  action  throughout  tends,  and  in  relation  to  which  even 
transactions  of  little  weight  in  themselves  assume  importance. 
A  conflict  persistently  maintained  in  vindication  of  an  essential 
principle  of  morals  is  always  a  noble  subject  of  contemplation. 
But  when  the  matter  at  issue  is  nothing  less  than  the  claim  to 


vi 


PREFACE. 


liberty  of  religions  thought  and  expression,  the  assertion  of  tlie 
indefeasible  title  of  all  mankind  to  absolute  freedom  in  the  wor- 
ship of  Almighty  God,  the  strife  becomes  invested  with  the 
highest  interest ;  and  the  men  who,  for  a  long  series  of  years, 
have  stood  forth  as  champions  of  a  doctrine  once  ignored,  or 
denied,  receive  the  homage  due  to  such  as  have  benefited  their 
race.  The  fact  that  their  exertions  were  crowned  with  success 
adds  lustre  to  their  bravery  and  perseverance.  Nor  does  it  de- 
tract from  the  glory  of  their  deeds  or  the  interest  of  the  recital 
that,  possibly  in  a  strange  and  wholly  unlooked-for  way,  the 
general  course  of  events  was  shaped  to  further  their  designs,  so 
that  the  very  steps  taken  by  their  opponents  conduced  marvel- 
lously to  hasten  the  advance  of  the  cause  which  those  opponents 
sought  to  retard  and  overthrow. 

During  the  greater  part  of  the  period  of  thirty-six  years  cov- 
ered by  these  volumes  (157^^1610),  the  history  of  the  Hugue- 
nots was  so  closeh-  interwoven  with  the  general  history  of 
France  that  it  would  be  impracticable  to  narrate  the  one  with- 
out the  other.  The  wars  by  which  France  was  convulsed  were 
waged  for  the  purpose  of  constraining  the  Protestant  minority 
in  the  kingdom  to  a  conformity  with  the  creed  and  rites  ap- 
proved by  the  Roman  Catholic  majority.  The  "  Holy  League  " 
found  the  pretext  for  its  existence  in  the  popular  belief  that  the 
ancestral  religion  was  in  danger  of  decline  and  ultimate  ruin 
because  of  the  lukewarmness  of  the  reigning  monai-ch  and  the 
hetei'odoxy  of  his  prospective  successor.  The  historian  of  the 
Huguenots  is  consequently  compelled  to  be  to  some  extent 
the  historian  of  the  war  against  the  League.  For  the  elected 
Protector  of  the  Churches"  is  the  same  Henry  of  Bourbon, 
King  of  Xavarre,  whose  sword  is  to  slay  the  hydra-headed 
monster  of  rebellion  against  the  crown  of  France.    More  than 


PREFACE. 


vii 


this,  the  Huguenot  noblemen  and  burgesses  are  the  followers 
without  whose  support  that  sword  would  have  been  powerless 
to  perform  such  prodigies  of  valor.  The  figure  of  Henry  is 
not,  it  is  true,  the  only  heroic  figure  that  comes  iipon  the  stage 
of  action.  His  cousin  Conde  was  even  more  devoted  to  Hugue- 
not interests ;  and  Fran9ois  de  Chatillon,  Count  of  Coligny,  a 
worthy  son  of  the  famous  admiral,  bade  fair,  had  not  his  life 
been  cut  short,  to  rival  the  fame,  as  he  already  emulated  the 
manly  courage  and  Christian  virtues,  of  a  father  upon  whose 
greatness  the  crime  of  Catharine  de'  Medici  and  the  Guises  had 
irrevocably  set  the  seal  of  history.  Yet  the  chivalrous  form  of 
Henry  of  Navarre  is  that  of  the  chief  actor  upon  whom  the  eye 
naturally  and  unavoidably  rests,  with  the  expectation  that  his 
words  and  his  actions  will  exercise  an  influence  leading  if  not 
decisive.  Next  in  interest,  therefore,  to  the  edict  by  which  he 
gave  liberty  of  conscience  and  of  worship  to  the  Huguenots  of 
France,  stands  the  act  of  defection  to  the  faith  in  which  he  had 
been  reared — the  Abjuration  at  Saint  Denis,  which  must  ever 
remain  the  great  blot  upon  his  fame  as  a  man  and  a  ruler,  be- 
cause based  upon  no  conscientious  convictions,  but  solely  on 
motives  of  political  expediency.  To  trace  the  decadence  that 
led  to  an  act  as  disastrous  to  public  morality  as  disgraceful  to 
the  king  himself  must  form  a  portion  of  my  task  in  the  follow- 
ing pages. 

The  marginal  notes  will,  for  the  most  part,  fumish  the  neces- 
sary information  regarding  the  authorities  consulted.  I  have 
aimed  to  make  conscientious  use  of  every  available  source  of 
accurate  knowledge,  whether  Protestant  or  Roman  Catholic. 
The  extended  historical  works  of  De  Thou  and  his  continuator 
Rigault,  of  Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  of  Jean  de  Serres,  of  Davila, 
of  Benoist,  and  others,  have  afforded  the  means  of  comparison 


viii 


PREFACE. 


with  tlie  precious  collection  of  fugitive  papers  and  pamphlets 
contained  in  the  "  Memoires  de  la  Ligue,"'  the  "  Menioires  de 
Is'evers,"  and  the  "  Archives  curieuses  "  of  Cimber  and  Danjon  ; 
with  the  immensely  extended  correspondence  of  Duplessis  Mor- 
nay  ;  with  the  Memoires  of  Sully,  and  the  less  familiar  Memoires 
of  Saint- Auhan,  Bouillon,  Groulart,  etc.;  and  with  the  letters  of 
Hubert  Languet,  Busbecq,  Pasquier,  and  other  contemporaries. 
I  have  made  constant  use  of  the  "  Bulletin  "  of  the  French  Prot- 
estant Historical  Society,  and  the  "  France  Protestante  "  of  the 
brothers  Haag,  to  both  of  which  I  expressed  my  indebtedness 
in  the  pi-eface  to  my  previous  work.  Without  refei-ring  in 
detail  to  the  collections  of  State  Papers  long  known  to  the 
public,  I  desire  to  state  the  great  benefit  I  have  derived  from 
the  invaluable  "  Lettres  missives  de  Henri  lY,"  and  from  the 
despatches  of  the  Florentine  agents  resident  at  the  court  of 
France  (Petrucci,  Alamanni,  Cavriana,  Pucellai,  etc.),  published 
under  the  title  of  "  Is  egociations  diplomatiques  avec  la  Tos- 
cane  ;"  as  well  as  from  Professor  A.  Kluckhohn's  collection  of 
the  letters  of  Frederick  the  Pious,  and  his  monograph,  "  Zwei 
pfalzische  Gesandschaftsberichte,"  in  the  Transactions  of  the 
Bavarian  Poyal  Academy,  and  from  the  correspondence  of  the 
Guises  with  the  ambassadors  of  Philip  the  Second  and  the  Duke 
of  Parma,  edited  by  De  Croze.  Among  the  more  recent  con- 
tributions to  historical  science  that  have  afforded  me  important 
assistance,  I  shall  confine  myself  to  a  simple  mention  of  Poirson, 
on  the  Reign  of  Henry  the  Fourth ;  of  Picot,  on  the  States 
General ;  of  Anquez,  on  the  Political  Assemblies  of  the  Hu- 
guenots ;  of  Morikofei",  on  the  Refugees  in  Switzerland ;  of 
Professor  Loutchitzky's  "  Documents  inedits  pour  servir  a  I'his- 
toire  de  la  Refonne  et  de  la  Ligue  ; "  of  M.  Henri  Fazy's 
"  Geneve,  le  Parti  huguenot  et  le  Traite  de  Soleure ; "  of  the 


PREFACE. 


ix 


Memoires  of  Gaches,  on  the  Religions  Wars  at  Castres  and  in 
Langnedoc;  of  the  Memoires  of  La  Iliiguerye;  of  Daval,  on 
the  History  of  the  Keforniation  at  Dieppe ;  of  Count  Dela- 
borde,  on  Fran9ois  de  Cliatillon ;  of  Read,  on  Daniel  Chamier ; 
of  Stahelin,  on  the  Abjuration  of  Henry  the  Fourth;  and  of 
Nicolas  and  Bourchenin,  on  the  Protestant  Academies,  or 
Universities  of  France. 

In  the  publication  of  the  present  volumes  I  carry  out  in  pai-t 
the  plan  I  proposed  for  myself  in  the  preface  to  the  Rise  of 
the  Huguenots.  Should  they  be  received  with  the  measure  of 
favor  extended,  on  both  sides  of  the  ocean,  to  that  work,  I  hope 
at  some  futui'e  time  to  bring  the  historical  series  to  its  natu- 
ral conclusion  in  a  History  of  the  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of 
Isantes,  a  theme  to  which  new  attention  has  been  drawn  by  the 
commemoration,  in  many  countries  and  in  both  hemispheres,  of 
the  Bicentenary  of  the  promulgation  of  Louis  the  Fourteenth's 
proscriptive  ordinance. 

University  of  the  City  of  New  Youk, 
August  24,  1886. 


CONTENTS 

OF 

VOLUME  FIRST. 


BOOK  I. 
CHAPTER  I. 
1574-157G. 

Page 

The  Accession  of  Henry  of  Valois,  and  the  War  against  the 

Huguenots    S 

Growth  of  the  Huguenots  in  the  Preceding  Reigns  ....  3 

Catharine  de'  Medici's  Letter       ........  8 

Mourning  of  "  La  Reine  Blanche  "  .......  9 

Henry's  Anxiety  ...........  10 

The  Huguenots  in  Arms    .........  11 

Revival  of  Feudalism  ..........  12 

Perplexity  of  the  King  of  Poland      .......  13 

Escape  from  Cracow     ..........  14 

Henry  at  Venice       ..........  14 

Huguenot  Leaders        ..........  15 

The  Prince  of  Condc        .........  15 

Losses  in  Normandy     ..........  16 

Marshal  Damville  and  the  Parliament  of  Toulouse  ....  17 

Capture  of  Castres        ..........  17 

First  Siege  of  Livron        .........  18 

Conde's  Declaration      ..........  19 

Political  Assembly  at  Milhau    ........  21 

Opposition  to  Alliance  with  the  Politiques    ......  22 

The  Alliance  a  Necessity   23 

The  Question  of  Religious  Toleration  .       .       .       ...  .23 

Henry's  Tastes  pacific       .........  24 

His  first  Intentions       ..........  25 

Good  Advice  of  the  Emperor  and  the  Doge      .....  26 


xii  CONTENTS. 

Page 

Of  thft  Elector   2G 

And  of  the  Prince  of  Orange   27 

Special  Instructions  of  Lord  North       .......  27 

Intolerant  Counsels  of  the  Pope  and  the  Queen  Mother    ...  28 

Catharine's  Influence    ..........  29 

Damville's  Interview  at  Turin  ........  30 

The  Royal  Council  deliberates      ........  31 

Paul  de  Foix  s  Plea  for  Peace    ........  31 

Villequier's  Reply         ...        ....        ...  33 

Henry  resolves  to  Prepare  for  War    .......  33 

Official  Declaration   35 

Huguenot  Operations        .........  35 

IVIontbrun's  courageous  Answer    ........  36 

Henry  at  Avignon     ..........  37 

He  joins  the  Flagellants       .......       .       .  38 

Death  of  the  Cardinal  of  Lorraine    .......  39 

His  Character       ...........  40 

His  Claim  to  have  caused  the  Massacre     ......  41 

His  Responsibility        ..........  41 

The  Huguenots  of  Livron        ........  42 

Capture  of  Fontenay  and  Lusignan       .......  43 

The  Fairy  Melusine   44 

Henry's  Coronation  and  Marriage         .......  45 

His  growing  Devotion  to  Pleasure     ........  47 

His  Lavishness  and  Penury         .       .       .       .       .       .       .  .47 

Conference  of  Nismes       .........  47 

Negotiations  for  Peace  (April,  1575)     .......  48 

Beza's  broad  Statesmanship       ........  49 

Speech  of  Arenes         .       ......       ...  51 

The  Huguenot  Demands  .........  52 

Surprise  and  Indignation     .........  54 

The  Demand  for  Religious  Liberty  .......  55 

Maximilian's  Example         .........  5G 

Catharine  urges  a  better  Offer  ........  58 

Punishment  of  the  Authors  of  the  Massacre  demanded       .       .       .  59 

Henry  asseverates  his  Innocence      .......  CO 

Coligny's  Memory  vindicated       ........  CO 

Unpalatable  Propositions          ........  Gl 

The  Envoy  of  the  Politiques  derided   .......  02 

Henry  offers  unacceptable  Terms     .......  C3 

He  substitutes  better  Conditions  G3 

End  of  the  Negotiations   64 

"  The  prodigious  Demand  for  the  Edict  of  January  "  .       .       .  .64 

Intercessions  of  Foreign  States         .......  65 

Treacherous  Disguises  ..........  66 

Capture  of  Montbruu  (July,  1575)   67 


CONTENTS.  xiii 

Pnge 

Henry  is  resolved  that  Montbriin  shall  die  ......  08 

Montbnin  s  Execution      .........  G9 

Lesdiguieres        ...........  69 

Alen9on's  Escape  and  Proclamation  (September,  1575)     ...  70 

The  Huguenots  duped          .........  71 

Catharine's  Grief  genuine         ........  71 

Wretched  Condition  of  the  Tiers  Ltat  .   72 

"  Le  Manaut  paye  tout  74 

Corruption  of  the  Court       .........  74 

Puerile  Extravagance  and  Lewdness         ......  75 

Henry  and  his  Dogs     ..........  75 

Foreign  help  for  the  Huguenots       .......  77 

Defeat  of  Tliore   79 

A  liollow  Truce        ..........  80 

Vain  Efforts  of  the  King  to  raise  Money       ......  81 

Henry's  whimsical  Revenge     ........  81 

General  Confusion       .       ...       .....  .83 

The  Truce  of  Vivarais   82 

The  honorable  Observance   ....       ...       .       .  85 

Henry  of  Navarre  escapes  from  Court       ......  85 

Entrance  of  tlie  Germans  into  France  .......  87 

Excesses  of.  the  Reiters     .........  88 

Stout  Demands  of  the  Protestants        .   90 

The  Points  which  Catharine  will  not  yield       .....  91 

Impatience  of  Henry  and  of  the  People       ......  92 

Edict  of  Pacification  (Beaulieu,  May,  157C)      .....  9.3 


Fourquevaulx's  Description  of  the  Condition  of  Languedoc         .       .  95 

CHAPTER  II. 
1576-1577. 

The  States  General  of  Blois  and  the  Sixth  Civil  Wak  .       .  97 

Unpopularity  of  the  "  Paix  de  Monsieur  "        .....  97 

Henry  insists  on  carrying  out  the  Provisions       .....  98 

Private  Sentiments  of  tlie  King        .......  99 

Alencon  won  from  tlie  Huguenots       .......  100 

Henry  and  Catliarine  indignant  at  the  Guises    .....  101 

Royal  Instructions  to  Montpensier       .......  102 

Humieres  resists  the  Edict  at  Peronne      ......  103 

Tlie  Origin  of  the  League   104 

Revival  of  tlie  League  after  the  Massacre  .....       .  IOC 

The  Fraternities  of  Penitents  contribute  thereto   lOG 

Manifesto  of  the  League  of  Peronne   107 


XIV 


CONTENTS. 


Page 


Oath  of  the  League   107 

Conde  and  Navarre   IQg 

Caution  of  La  Rochelle  108 

Cardinal  Bourbon  and  the  Huguenots  of  Rouen       ....  110 

Threatening  Indications       .       .       .       .       .       .       .       ,  .112 

Extension  of  the  League  .       .       .       .       .    '   ,       .       .       .  114 

A  Roman  Catholic  Reaction   II5 

Suspicions  of  the  Huguenots  aroused       ......  115 

Henry's  ignoble  Pursuits     .       .   116 

A  Portrait  of  Henry  of  Valois   118 

A  Pasquinade  against  the  King   118 

Elections  for  the  States  General       .   119 

Revolution  in  the  Royal  Policy   120 

How  to  be  accounted  for  .........  120 

The  Mcmoire  of  Nicholas  David   122 

Was  the  Paper  genuine  ?  .       .   126 

Henry  determines  to  become  Head  of  the  League        ....  127 

The  King's  "  Little  Council "   127 

Henry's  Letters  of  December  2,  1576    128 

Opening  of  the  States  General  (December  6)   128 

Henry's  Speech    ...........  129 

Address  of  Chancellor  Birague   130 

Bold  Demands  of  the  States         ........  131 

Henry's  Activity       ..........  133 

His  Vacillation   134 

The  Proscriptive  Declaration  (December  29,  1576)    ....  134 

Henry  asks  the  Written  Opinions  of  his  Council   136 

Candor  of  Morvilliers  and  Bellievre   137 

The  Duke  of  Anjou  entrapped   138 

Politic  Course  of  Guise  and  Montpensier  ......  130 

I    Deputies  of  the  Three  Orders  before  the  King  (January  17,  1577)       .  140 

'    The  Tiers  Etat  consents  to  the  Repeal  of  the  Edict    ....  141 

Huguenot  Preparations        .........  141 

Envoys  sent  by  the  States  to  Henry  of  Navarre        ....  142 

Reply  of  the  King  of  Navarre       ........  144 

Henry's  Significant  Assurance  ........  145 

Condc  refuses  to  recognize  the  Delegates     ......  146 

His  Protest   146 

Marshal  Damville's  Reply  to  the  States  and  to  the  King      .       .  .147 

Progress  of  Religious  Toleration       .   148 

Opposition  to  Signing  the  League  in  Paris    ......  149 

In  Amiens  and  in  Provins   149 

Distress  of  the  People  .       .       .       .       •#      .       .       .  .150 

The  Tiers  Etat  in  Favor  of  Peace      .......  151 

Intercession  of  the  Germans        .        .       .       .    »  .       .       ,       .  152 

The  Protestant  Counter-League   152 


CONTENTS.  XV 

Page 

The  King's  Failure  to  obtain  Funds   153 

Fresli  Consultation  respecting  the  War   154 

Nevers  proposes  a  Crusade    .........  154 

Catharine  speaks  out  for  Peace        .       .       .     '  .       .       .       .  155 

Henry  declares  his  Change  of  Purpose         ......  ISO 

Catharine's  Raillery  ..........  157 

The  Italian  Comedians   157 

The  Sixth  Civil  War   158  " 

Huguenot  Reverses  and  bad  Discipline        ......  159 

The  Reformation  and  Democracy     .......  159 

Contrast  with  revived  Feudalism         .......  100 

Misunderstanding  between  Damville  and  the  Huguenots         .       .  101 

Surprise  of  Montpellier        .........  102 

Charges  against  Damville         ........  102 

The  Marshal's  Reply   103 

Navarro  attempts  to  mediate     ........  104 

Tliore  becomes  Leader  in  Languedoc    .......  164 

End  of  the  Sixth  Civil  War   105 

Edict  of  Pollers  (September,  1577)       .   105 

CHAPTER  III. 
1577-1580. 

The  Conference  of  N^rac,  and  the  Seventh  Civil  War   .       .  108 

Contrast  between  the  Edict  of  Poitiers  and  the  Edict  of  January     .  108 

The  Situation  accepted        .........  109 

Calumnies  against  the  Huguenots    .......  170 

Accused  of  spreading  the  Plague         .       .       .       .       .       .  .170 

The  Peace  only  partially  observed    .       .       .       .       .       .       .  171 

Ninth  National  Synod  (Sainte  Foy,  1578)    ......  173 

Dispute  between  Conde  and  the  Consistory  of  La  Rochelle    .       .  170 

Degeneracy  of  Henry  the  Third   177 

New  Favorites  and  old  Feudal  Lords   178 

Penury  and  Prodigality  of  the  Court   180 

The  Provincial  States  protest    .   181 

Debts  of  Henry  of  Guise       .   183 

The  Duke  of  Anjou   183 

Singular  Compact  in  the  Comtat  Venaissin  ......  184 

Papal  Inconsistencies       .......        .       .  185 

The  Conference  of  Nerac   187 

"Langage  de  Canaan''   187 

A  Huguenot  Retort   188 

Henry  of  Navarre's  Revenge    ........  188 

The  Articles  of  Ntrac   190 


xvi 


CONTENTS. 


Page 

Henry  the  Third  becomes  Protector  of  Geneva     ....  190 

The  King  of  France's  Devotions   .  190 

He  institutes  the  "  Ordre  du  Saint  Esprit"      .....  193 

Popular  Superstition  .       .       .      -.        .       .        .        ...  193 

Tlie  People's  Vengeance  on  the  Lazy  Priest   193 

The  Clergy  reluctant  to  help  the  King   195 

Tenth  National  Protestant  Synod  (1579)   196 

Continuance  of  the  Peace  threatened  .       .       .       .       .       .  .196 

Preparations  of  the  King  of  Navarre        ......  198 

Growing  Discontent  and  Violent  Measures    ......  198 

Outbreak  of  the  Seventh  Civil  War  (April,  1580)     ....  200 

The  King  of  Navarre  justifies  his  Course     ......  200 

Was  the  War  unavoidable  ?   .  203 

"  La  Guerre  des  Amoureux  "       ........  204 

Most  of  the  Huguenots  take  no  Part         ......  204 

The  Huguenots  at  Montaigu   205 

Surprise  of  Cahors  (May,  1580)   205 

Ravages  of  the  Plague  in  Paris   208 

General  Success  of  the  Royal  Arms  .       .       .       .       .       .       .  209 

The  Treaty  of  Fleix  (November-December,  1580)       .       .       .  .210 

Conclusion  of  the  Seventh  Civil  War       ......  210 

CHAPTER  IV. 
1580-1584. 

The  Uncertain  Peace,  Protestant  Federation  and  toe  Paris- 
ian League   212 

Return  of  Comparative  Quiet    ........  212 

Henry  of  Navarre's  Justification  ........  213 

His  own  Court        ...        .       .        .....  214 

Political  Assembly  of  Montauban  (April,  1581)     .....  21 

Checks  upon  the  Authorit}'  of  the  "  Protector  of  the  Churches  "      .  21a 

National  Synod  of  La  Rochelle  (June,  1581)   217 

Conflict  of  Civil  and  Ecclesiastical  Authority    .....  218 

Ministerial  Support   221 

National  Synod  of  Vitro  (May,  1583)   222 

Infractions  of  the  Peace     .       .       .       .       .       .       .       .       .  22; 

The  Duke  of  Mayenne  in  Dauphiny   224 

St.  Bartholomew's  Massacre  commemorated        .....  22r 

Henry  and  his  Mignons    .       .  .     '  .       .       .       .       .  226 

Joyeuse  and  fipernon        .        .        ....        ...  226 

The  King  attempts  to  remove  Montmorency     .....  22"" 

The  Nuns  of  Poissy   228 

Infamy  of  the  Royal  Morals   229 


CONTENTS.  xvii 

Page 

Financial  Embarrassment  and  Dangerous  Expedients        .       .       .  230 

Institution  of  the  Fraternity  of  the  Annunciation     ....  231 

The  King's  Waning  Devotion       ........  232 

His  Superstition        ..........  233 

Discontent  of  the  Guises      .........  233 

Conspiracy  between  the  Guises,  Savoy,  and  Spain    ....  234 

Doubtful  Loyalty  of  Montmorency      .......  235 

Philip  attempts  to  seduce  the  King  of  Navarre        ....  235 

Henry's  Irresolution     ..........  236 

He  still  leans  to  the  Guises   237 

Discourages  the  Advances  of  Navarre  .......  237 

The  Affront  to  the  King  of  Navarre   238 

The  Jesuits  promote  the  League  .       .       .       .       .       .       .       .  241 

Proposed  Universal  League  among  Protestants         ....  243 

The  "Formula  Concordiae"   245 

Scheme  of  Henry  of  Navarre    ........  245 

Mission  of  Segur  Pardaillan         ........  247 

The  Envoy's  Instructions   248 

The  Justification  of  the  King  of  Navarre      ......  250 

His  reply  to  the  Threats  of  Henry  III.  (December,  1583)         .       .  251 

Segur's  Mission  misrepresented    ........  252 

Ungracious  Letter  of  the  German  Princes  (March,  1585)  .       .       .  253 

The  Scheme  receives  its  Death-Blow    .......  255 

Henry's  Disappointment   .........  255 

His  tardy  Reply  to  the  Princes  (February  15,  1589)    ....  255 

Contemporary  View  of  Henry's  Resources        .....  257 

The  Protestant  Cities  and  Regions       .......  260 

Death  of  the  Duke  of  Anjou  (June  10,  1584)   262 

Disastrous  Results  of  this  Event   265 

The  Thought  of  a  Huguenot  King  repulsive  to  the  Roman  Catholics  265 

Authorship  of  the  League    .........  266 

Philip  the  Second  and  the  Jesuits    .......  267 

Henrj'  of  Valois  recognizes  Henry  of  Navarre  as  his  Successor    .       .  268 

Duplessis  Mornay's  sound  Advice     .......  270 

Navarre  is  entreated  to  abjure  Protestantism       .....  271 

His  noble  Reply   271 

Reports  of  his  "incorrigible  Obstinacy"  .         .....  271 

Hostile  Rumors         ..........  272 

A  pretended  Protestant  Confederacy     .......  272 

A  clumsy  Forgery                                                                       .  273 

Tlie  League  in  Paris  the  Result  of  a  systematic  Plan    ....  274 

Scheme  of  Charles  Hotman       ........  275 

The  Council  and  the  "  Five  "   275 


Florimond  de  R;emond's  Account  of  the  Huguenot  Worship    .       .  277 


xviii 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  V. 
1584-1585. 

Page 

The  Holy  League  and  the  Edict  op  Nemours  .      .      .      .  281 

The  King's  cordial  Hatred  of  the  Huguenots   281 

His  Plan  tor  the  Extinction  of  Protestantism   282 

Ambition  of  the  Duke  of  Guise    ........  283 

Designs  upon  England       .........  284 

Dissension  between  the  Conspirators    .......  284 

The  Plot  laid  bare   285 

Bernardino  de  Meudoza       .........  28G 

The  Huguenots  and  the  Cities  of  Refuge  ......  287 

Reasons  for  the  Retention  of  the  Cities        ......  288 

The  King  reluctantlj'  prolongs  the  Term  of  the  Protestant  Possession  290 

The  League  circulates  alarming  Rumors       ......  290 

Narrative  of  Nicholas  Poulain   291 

Pretended  Huguenot  Conspiracy  ........  292 

Offer  of  the  Sovereignty  of  the  Netherlands  to  the  King  .       .       .  294 

A  Royal  Declaration  against  the  League  (November  11,  l.';S4)  .  295 

Conference  of  the  League  at  Joinville  (December,  1584)  .       .       .  296 

Terms  of  the  Alliance   297 

Designs  of  Philip  IT   298 

Duplicity  of  the  Duke  of  Guise    .........  299 

The  Duke  of  Nevers  resolves  to  consult  the  Pope     ....  300 

Gregory's  Caution  as  to  committing  liis  Views  to  Paper        .       .       .  301 

His  Displeasure  at  the  Duke'.s  Pertinacity        .....  302 

Consecrated  Rosaries  in  Place  of  Advice       ......  303 

Death  of  Pope  Gregory   803 

Sixtus  V.  censures  the  League      ........  304 

He  bitterly  condemns  Gregory's  Course     ......  304 

Ambition  the  Motive  of  the  League      .......  305 

Unworthy  Treatment  of  the  Dutch  Envoys       .....  306 

Mendoza  tries  to  prevent  an  Audience         ......  307 

His  reported  Insolence      .........  307 

Magnanimous  Reply  .ascribed  to  the  King    ......  308 

Meanness  of  his  real  Speech     ........  309 

Insincerity  of  the  King  and  Queen  Mother  ......  309 

Failure  of  the  Embassy   310 

The  Loss  to  France   310 

Queen  Elizabeth  sends  Earl  Derby  to  France    .....  311 

Reported  Atrocities  of  the  English  Persecution    .....  312 

New  Edict  against  the  League  (March  28,  1585)       ....  313 

Declaration  of  Cardinal  Bourbon  (Poronne,  March  31,1585)       .       .  814 

Henry  of  Valois  publishes  a  Counter  Declaration  (April,  1585)         .  317 

An  undignified  Answer        .       .       .......  318 


CONTENTS.  xix 

rnge 

The  King's  spasmodic  Activity   319 

His  Hatred  of  the  Guises   320 

Tlie  Guard  of  the  "  Forty- five  "   321 

His  Unconcern     ...........  321 

He  desires  to  leave  Matters  of  State  to  his  Mother    ....  322 

General  Success  of  the  League      ........  323 

Philip  the  Second's  Assurances        .......  32.5 

Henry  of  Valois  writes  to  Henry  of  Navarre        .....  326 

He  fails  to  call  in  his  Assistance       .......  326 

Navarre's  Offer  declined       .........  327 

His  Letters       ...........  327 

Tlie  War  to  sift  out  true  Frenchmen    .......  328 

Navarre's  renewed  Offers  .........  328 

Forcible  Plea  of  the  Bishop  of  Acqs   329 

Remonstrances  of  Queen  Elizabeth    .......  330 

And  of  the  German  Princes         ........  331 

The  King's  Evil  Counsellors     ........  331 

His  moral  Turpitude    ..........  331 

Navarre  holds  a  Conference  of  Huguenot  Chiefs       ....  332 

Advice  of  the  Viscount  of  Turenne      .......  333 

Replj'  of  Agrippa  d'Aubigno     ........  334 

Henry  of  Navarre  adopts  D'Aubigne's  View         .....  335 

Arrogance  of  the  League    .........  330 

Its  pretended  Petition  (June  9,  l.'iSS)  .......  336 

Insincerity  of  its  Offer      .........  337 

Manifesto  of  Navarre,  Bergerac  (June  10,  l.^S.'i)  .....  337 

Navarre  challenges  Guise         ......       •       .  340 

Favorable  Impression  produced    ........  341 

Guise  declines  the  Challenge    ........  341 

Navarre's  Willingness  to  be  instructed  arouses  Suspicion           .       .  342 

His  Letter  to  the  King  (July  10,  1.58.5)   343 

Tlie  Conference  of  Nemours        ........  344 

Intolerant  Edict  of  Nemours  (July  18,  1585)   345 

Conduct  of  the  Guises  approved  ........  345 

Practical  Advantages  secured  by  the  League     .....  346 

Tlie  Guises  renounce  all  Associations    .......  346 

The  King  orders  Parliament  to  register  the  Edict     ....  347 

CHAPTER  VI. 
1.58.5-1.580. 

Pkoscriptton  of  the  Huguenots. — Henry  of  Navarre  excommuni- 
cated BY  THE  Pope   349 

A  difficult  Problem  confronts  the  Huguenots       .....  349 

Joint  Declaration  of  Navarre,  Conde,  and  Montmorency  .       .       .  350 


XX 


CONTENTS. 


Page 

Secret  Correspondence  of  Henry  of  Navarre        .       .       .       .       .  352 

Should  Colonies  be  settled  in  France  V      .       .       .       .       .       .  353 

Contrast  between  the  two  Kings    ........  353 

Henry  of  Valois  demands  Money  from  the  City  of  Paris  and  the  Clergy  354 

Who  excuse  themselves      .........  355 

Henry's  significant  Observation        .......  355 

The  King  of  France  and  the  Pope       .......  356 

Eoj-al  Embassy  to  seek  Navarre's  Conversion    .....  356 

His  Readiness  to  submit  to  a  Council    .......  357 

His  Message  to  the  Duke  of  Montpensier         .....  358 

Intrigue  of  Guise  with  the  Spanish  Ambassador          ....  359 

Margaret  of  Valois  an  Ally  of  the  League         .....  360 

Guise  impatient  for  the  Excommunication  of  Henry  of  Navarre  .       .  361 

Alliance  with  Montmorency  essential  to  the  Success  of  the  League   .  363 

Guise  bids  Mayenne  avoid  attacking  Montmorency      ....  363 

Philip  of  Spain  procrastinates    ........  363 

Protestation  of  Marshal  Montmorency         ......  364 

Sixtus  V.  still  opposes  the  League    .......  365 

He  excommunicates  and  deposes  the  King  of  Navarre        .       .       .  366 

Indignation  and  Ridicule  in  France         ......  367 

Navarre  challenges  the  Pope  to  appear  before  a  General  Council        .  368 

Hotman's  "  Brutum  Fulmen "         .......  369 

Royal  Declaration  of  October  7, 1585    .......  370 

Remonstrance  of  the  Parliament  of  Paris         .       .       .       .       .  370 

Forcible  Plea  for  Liberty  of  Conscience       ......  370 

Crime  of  Proscription       .........  371 

Parliament's  Opinion  of  the  Papal  Bull       ......  372 

Displeasure  of  Catharine  de'  Medici   373 

The  Printer  punished  ..........  374 

Henry  of  Navarre  retaliates   374 

The  Enterprise  of  Angers   374 

The  Castle  of  Angers        .   374 

A  Plot  to  surprise  it   375 

The  Castle  in  Huguenot  Hands   377 

Conde  advances  to  Anjou     .........  377 

Peril  and  Escape  of  his  Army   378 

General  Discouragement  of  the  Huguenots  .       .       .       .       .       .  380 

Numerous  Apostacies       .........  382 

Flight  into  foreign  Lands     .........  382 

The  Huguenots  in  Savoy   383 

A  general  Roll  of  the  Protestants  made   384 

Perplexity  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Bishops  '  385 

A  Confession  of  Faith  imposed  on  Converts   386 

Additional  Guarantee  of  Sincerity   386 

Pastoral  Remonstrances       .........  387 

Jealousy  among  the  Huguenot  Leaders   387 


CONTENTS.  xxi 

Page 

Henry  of  Navarre  writes  to  the  City  of  Paris   388 

His  Appeal  to  the  Clergy   .........  389 

His  Remonstrances  addressed  to  the  Nobles  and  Commons  .       .       .  390 

Indecisive  Warfare    .       .       .       .       .       .       .       .       .       .  391 

The  King's  Levies  in  Germany  and  Switzerland  .....  392 

Guise's  Anxiety  lest  Peace  should  ensue  ......  392 

His  Entry  into  Paris  (February,  158(5)  .   393 

Procrastination  of  the  Duke  of  Mayenne  ......  394 

Huguenot  Sarcasm       ..........  396 

Conde  returns  to  France  (January,  1586)  ......  396 

Death  of  D'Andelot's  Sons   397 

Henry  of  Valois's  Diversions     .   397 

His  injudicious  financial  Edicts    ........  398 

Intercession  of  the  Protestant  Cantons  of  Switzerland      .       .       .  399 

Appeal  of  the  German  Princes     ........  400 

Conference  of  Montbeliard  (March,  1580)   400 

The  Embassy  reaches  Paris   401 

Speech  of  Duke  Casimir's  Envoy     .......  402 

The  King's  rough  Answer     .       .       .       .       .       .       .       .       .  404 

The  Guises  determined  not  to  disarm       ......  405 

Conference  of  the  League  at  Ourcanip         ......  405 

The  League  apprehensive        ........  40G 

Conference  between  Catharine  and  Navarre,  at  Saint  Bris  (December, 

1586)   407 

Catharine  refuses  to  grant  religious  Liberty        .       .       .       .  .411 

The  Possibility  of  Navarre's  Conversion    ......  413 

Huguenot  Distru.st  of  Garrisons    .       .       .       .       .       .       .  .415 

Frangois  de  Chatillon  and  Milhau-en-Rouergue       ....  415 

Mutual  Jealousy  between  Citizens  and  Soldiers    .....  416 

The  Citizens  become  Masters  of  the  Place        .       .       .       .       .  416 

The  "  Citadel  "  demolished   417 

CHAPTER  VII. 
1587. 

The  Battle  of  Coutr^s,  and  the  Army  op  the  Retters       .  418 

The  War  accomplishes  nothing    ........  418 

Zeal  of  the  Le.ague  .at  Paris       .       .               .....  419 

Annoyance  of  the  Duke  of  Guise         .......  420 

Huguenot  Successes  in  Poitou   420 

Lesdiguieres  in  Dauphiny   420 

Rout  of  Swiss  Auxiliaries   422 

Irresolution  of  the  King   423 

Parties  at  Court   423 

The  Queen  Mother's  Interview  with  Guise  (May,  1.587)       .       .       -  424 


xxii  CONTENTS. 

Page 

Meeting  of  the  King  and  Guise  (July,  1587)   425 

Tlie  Duke's  Debts   426 

Joj'euse  marches  toward  Guyeune     .......  426 

The  Count  of  Soissons  and  the  Prince  of  Conty  join  Navarre       .       .  428 

Navarre  marclies  toward  the  Dordogue     ......  428 

He  takes  jiosition  at  Coutras   429 

Tlie  Huguenot  Line  ..........  430 

Battle  of  Coutras  (Octoher  20,  1587)   431 

Gabriel  d'Amours  offers  Prayer   431 

A  Huguenot  Battle  Psalm     .   433 

Rout  and  Death  of  Joy  e  use       ........  434 

Navarre's  Bravery        ..........  434 

Prayer  and  Psalm  after  Battle  ........  435 

The  first  Pitched  Battle  gained  by  the  Huguenots       ....  436 

The  Fruits  of  Victory  lost   437 

Navarre's  Justification  ..........  438 

Queen  Elizabeth  renders  Assistance  .......  440 

Tlie  Army  of  the  Reiters   441 

John  Casimir's  Compact    .........  441 

Baron  Dolina   442 

The  Reiters  enter  Lorraine   442 

Route  taken  by  the  German.?       .   444 

They  are  joined  by  Frani;ois  de  Chatillon         .....  445 

Want  of  Discipline  and  Loisses     ........  445 

The  Germans  disregard  Navarre's  Orders,  and  push  on  to  the  Loire  446 

They  insist  on  going  westward   447 

Guise's  Correspondence  with  the  Spaniards      .....  447 

He  attacks  the  Reiters  at  Vimory         .......  449 

He  publishes  glowing  Accounts  of  his  Victory   449 

•  The  Germans  involved  in  increasing  Difficulty    .       .       .       •       •  450 

The  Swiss  send  Deputies  to  the  King   451 

They  determine  to  return  to  Switzerland   451 

The  Germans  begin  a  Retreat   452 

They  are  surprised  by  Guise  at  Auneau       ......  453 

Guise  accuses  the  King  of  throwing  Obstacles  in  his  Way        .       .  453 

The  Reiters  accept  a  Safe-conduct  to  Germany     .....  454 

Indignation  of  the  League        ........  455 

Guise  and  Du  Pout  lay  waste  the  County  of  Montbeliard     .       .       .  455 

Magnanimity  of  Francois  de  Chatillon      ......  457 

His  daring  Retreat  to  Languedoc  ........  457 

MAP. 


Southern  France  at  the  Accession  of  Henry  the  Tuird.  1574. 

At  end  of  wlu inc. 


> 


BOOK  FIRST. 


FROxM  THE  ACCESSION  OF  HENRY  THE  THIRD  (1574)  TO 
THE  BATTLE  OF  COUTRAS  (1587). 


BOOK  FIRST. 


FROM  THE  ACCESSION  OF  HENRY  THE  THIRD  (1574) 
TO  THE  BATTLE  OF  COUTRAS  (1587). 


CHAPTEE  I. 

THE  ACCESSION  OF  HENRY  OF  VALOIS,  AND  THE  "WAR  AGAINST 
THE  HUGUENOTS. 

At  the  date  of  the  accession  of  the  last  Valois  to  the  throne 
of  France,  more  than  fifty  years  had  elapsed  since  the  first  ap- 
pearance of  that  religious  and  patriotic  party  whose  adherents, 
after  bearing  the  names  of  Lutherans,  Christaudins,  and  Cal- 
vinists,  had  finally  come  to  be  commonly  known  as 
the  Hague-  Huguenots.  A  movement  begun  in  weakness  had 
preceding  gained  strength  in  face  of  formidable  opposition.  The 
reigns.  short-Hved  favor  of  Francis  the  First  was  succeeded 
by  persecution  of  the  most  cruel  type.  For  nearly  forty  years 
the  gallows,  and  the  "  estrapade "  with  its  protracted  torture, 
did  their  worst,  but  all  in  vain.  During  the  short  reign  of 
Francis  the  Second  the  forces  hitherto  latent  burst  forth,  and 
men  discovered  for  the  first  time  that  the  "  new  doctrines,"  as 
they  were  called,  had  enlisted  under  their  banner  not  only  the 
greater  part  of  the  intelligent  classes  of  the  population,  but  a 
considerable  proportion  of  the  nobility  and  gentry  of  the  realm. 
It  was  not,  however,  until  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  Charles 
the  Ninth  that  an  opportunity  was  afPorded  to  the  Huguenots, 


4 


THE  HUGUEXOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.         Ch.  I. 


at  the  Colloquy  of  Poissv,  to  set  forth  before  the  king  and  his 
assembled  court  the  true  nature  of  their  doctrines  and  purposes. 
All  France,  at  this  time,  -was  inflamed  with  the  desire  to  know 
for  itself  the  merits  of  the  new  reformation.  Whole  provinces 
in  the  South  seemed  to  have  embraced  Protestantism.  The 
children  of  many  districts  "  learned  religion  only  in  Calvin's 
catechism;"  and  vast  congregations  flocked  to  the  Huguenot 
pi'eaching.  The  ferment  extended  to  Central  France.  The 
very  ecclesiastics  of  the  established  church  were  affected. 
Bishops  left  their  mitres,  priests  gave  up  their  cures,  monks 
threw  off  the  cowl.  Many  of  those  who  had  not  as  yet  taken 
any  decided  step  were  asking  for  more  light  upon  the  subject 
of  their  duty.  When  it  was  proposed  to  establish  a  Protestant 
theological  school  in  Orleans,  the  canons  of  the  church  of  the 
Holy  Pood  applauded  the  project  and  promised  to  come  and 
listen  to  the  lectures  of  the  professors.  Some  parts  of  the 
isorth  were  not  behind  the  fervid  South  in  their  excitement. 
In  the  great  fair  of  Guibray,  in  Xormandy,  no  waives  sold  more 
rapidly  than  the  books  and  pamphlets  wherein  the  doctrines  of 
the  Reformation  were  inculcated.  A  quarter  of  a  century  be- 
fore (in  1534)  the  appearance  of  a  placard  against  the  papal 
mass,  aflBxed  to  the  door  of  the  king's  chamber,  had  created 
unparalleled  consternation  at  court  and  throughout  France. 
In  his  first  transports  of  anger  Francis  even  went  to  the 
length  of  abolishing  the  art  of  printing.  When  his  inflamed 
passions  had  had  time  to  cool  down  he  still  thought  it  incum- 
bent upon  him,  as  the  Very  Christian  King,  to  appease  Heaven 
for  the  sacrilege  by  a  pompous  procession,  during  the  course  of 
which  six  Lutherans  were  publicly  burned  to  death  on  different 
squares  of  the  capital.  In  the  banquet  held  at  its  close,  in  the 
episcopal  palace,  he  had  professed  such  detestation  for  the  Prot- 
estant doctrine  as  to  boast  that,  if  one  of  his  arms  were  infected 
with  the  poison,  he  would  cut  it  off,  if  his  children  were  con- 
taminated, he  would  immolate  them.  But  now,  in  the  first  year 
of  his  grandson's  reign,  this  very  placard,  whose  original  pub- 
lication had  cost  the  lives  of  printers  and  readers,  was  openly 
distributed  by  boys  who  with  a  loud  voice  made  know^l  the 
hand-bill  by  its  striking  title :  "  True  Articles  respecting  the 


1574. 


ACCESSION  OF  HENRY  OF  VALOIS. 


5 


Horrible,  Great,  and  Insupportable  Abuses  of  the  Papal  Mass," 
So  much  had  the  times  changed.' 

In  the  very  tribunals  of  law,  accustomed  to  take  cognizance 
of  the  Huguenots  only  when  sentencing  them  to  imprisonment 
or  death,  they  now  found  advocates  or  apologists.  The  Bishop 
of  Paris  took  occasion,  in  Parliament  (1561),  to  allude  to  the 
friendly  arbitration  by  means  of  which  the  Huguenots  settled, 
in  their  church  sessions  and  otherwise,  the  disputes  arising  be- 
tween members  of  their  own  communion,  and  declared  that  it 
was  an  evidence  of  the  impudence  of  the  Reformers  that  they 
thus  interfered  with  the  prerogative  of  the  royal  courts.  But 
his  words  were  ably  answered  by  the  highest  judicial  officer  of 
France,  grave  Chancellor  L'llospital.  He  marvelled,  he  said, 
at  the  effrontery  and  malice  of  those  who  blamed  men  for  set- 
tling their  disputes  and  controversies  among  friends.  "As  if," 
he  added,  with  pardonable  contempt  for  his  reverend  objector, 
"  as  if  the  whole  system  of  law  had  not  been  enacted,  and  forms 
of  trial  had  not  been  instituted  for  this  very  purpose — that  men 
at  variance  with  one  another  might  be  brought  into  concord, 
and  induced  to  live  lovingly  together !  AVhoever  he  be  that 
brings  about  this  result  deserves  reward  and  not  punishment."  ^ 

It  was  at  this  favorable  conjuncture,  and  through  the  efforts 
of  such  enlightened  men  as  Michel  de  I'Hospital,  that  the 
"  Edict  of  Jam;ary"  (1502)  was  published.  Based  on  equita- 
ble principles,  this  law  recognized  liberty  of  conscience  as  the 
right  of  all,  and  permitted  the  Huguenots  to  worship  Almighty 
God,  according  to  the  rites  of  the  Reformed  religion,  eveiy- 
where  throughout  France,  outside  of  the  walls  of  the  towns  and 
cities.  If  not  a  perfect  law,  it  was  so  well  adapted  to  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  case  that,  perhaps,  nothing  better,  sliort  of 
absolute  religious  equality,  could  have  been  desired.  Under 
this  ordinance,  well  and  faithfully  executed,  Roman  Catholics 
and  Protestants  might  liave  lived  together  long  years,  until  the 
fuller  development  of  the  sense  of  natural  justice  should  have 

'  MS.  Geneva  Library,  published  in  Bulletin  de  la  Societe  de  I'histoire  du 
Protestantisme  franf;ais,  xxviii.  (1879)  457. 

•  Letter  of  Hubert  Languet,  Paris,  July  13,  1561,  Epistolae  secretse,  ii.  125, 
126. 


6 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.         Ch.  1. 


abrogated  its  provisions  only  to  establish  in  their  place  a  free- 
dom having  its  sure  sanction  in  universal  charity. 

Unhappily  the  age  of  brotherly  love  had  not  yet  dawned. 
There  were  those  who  were  not  inclined  to  leave  the  Edict  of 
January  to  mature  its  kindly  fruits.  Within  six  weeks  the 
massacre  of  Yassy,  perpetrated  upon  an  unoffending  congrega- 
tion of  Pi-otestant  worshippers  in  a  Champagnese  town  (March, 
1562),  kindled  a  flame  which  burned  with  little  intermission  to 
the  close  of  the  reign  of  Charles  the  Kinth.  To  open  warfare 
were  added  the  further  horrors  of  treacherous  assassination. 
The  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew's  Day  came  as  the  sequel  of 
three  distinct  civil  wars,  and  as  the  precursor  of  two  other  wars, 
all  instituted  within  the  brief  compass  of  a  reign  of  little  more 
than  twelve  years.  It  was  a  legacy  of  bloodshed  and  confusion 
that  Charles  left  to  his  brother,  Henry.  Thirty  thousand  Hugue- 
nots may  have  fallen  victims  to  the  conspiracy  of  Catharine  de' 
Medici,  the  Duke  of  Anjou,  and  the  Guises  ;  but  the  Huguenots 
were  not  all  dead.  For  every  one  that  had  perished  by  sword 
there  remained  fifty  of  his  comrades  ready  to  maintain  the 
cause  whose  interests  he  had  fought  to  defend.  Admiral  Co- 
ligny  was  no  more,  and  many  other  leaders  had  been  assassinated 
with  him  ;  but  the  experience  of  the  two  years  intervening  be- 
tween the  massacre  and  the  close  of  the  reign  of  Charles  proved 
conclusively  that  all  the  military  genius  of  the  Huguenots  had 
not  been  buried  in  their  graves.  Many  of  the  new  conmiand- 
ers — some  of  them  destined  soon  to  distinguish  themselves  in 
the  art  of  warfare — were  very  young.  Henry,  King  of  Xa- 
varre,  was  but  twenty  years  of  age.  His  cousin,  Henry  of 
Conde,  was  just  a  year  older.  Frangois  de  Chatillon,  Admiral 
Coligny's  son,  was  a  stripling  of  seventeen.  Fran9ois  de  la 
Xoue  was  almost  the  only  survivor  of  the  older  Huguenot 
chieftains  of  prominent  rank.  The  mantle  was  certainly  fall- 
ing upon  shoulders  unaccustomed  to  bear  such  weighty  respon- 
sibility ;  but  the  sequel  would  prove  that  the  men  whom  cir-' 
cumstances,  strange  and  unexpected,  called  to  the  front  line  of 
action  were  by  no  means  unworthy  to  be  trusted  with  its  de- 
fence. The  crisis  was  grave,  the  matters  to  be  settled  were  of 
unsurpassed  importance.    Xot  the  fortunes  of  the  combatants 


1574. 


ACCESSION  OF  HENRY  OF  VALOIS. 


7 


alone  were  at  stake,  but  the  cause  of  religious  liberty  must  be 
sustained.  With  what  fluctuations  of  success  and  defeat  that 
cause  was  prosecuted  until  the  final  enactment  of  the  edict  of 
Henry  the  Fourth,  placing  Protestantism  under  the  gegis  of  the 
public  law  of  the  land,  is  the  inquiry  that  furnishes  the  main 
theme  of  the  present  volumes. 

On  Sunday,  the  thirtieth  of  May,  1574,  Charles  the  Ninth 
expired  in  the  Castle  of  the  Bois  de  Yincennes.  Two  weeks 
later,  the  messenger  of  Catharine  de'  Medici  succeeded,  by 
almost  incredible  diligence,  in  reaching  Cracow,  and  brought  to 
Henry  of  Yalois  the  grateful  intelligence  that  he  had  fallen 
heir  to  the  crown  of  France. 

The  queen  mother  had  promptly  taken  every  step  necessary 
to  secure  the  peaceful  succession  of  her  favorite  son.  Unmoved 
by  the  approaching  end  of  Charles,  she  had,  on  his  death-bed, 
prudently  procured  from  him,  or  in  his  name,  letters  patent 
conferring  upon  her  the  regency  xmtil  Henry's  return  frona 
Poland.  With  more  composure  than  could  have  been  expected 
from  a  mother  in  her  fresh  bereavement,  she  had  authorized  an 
examination  of  the  late  monarch's  body,  and  the  next  day  was 
careful  to  despatch  letters  to  all  the  governors  of  France,  assur- 
ing them  that  a  sufficient  natural  cause  had  been  found  by  the 
physicians  for  the  fatal  termination  of  his  malady.  She  begged 
them  to  write  to  the  new  king,  and  inform  him  of  their  purpose 
to  render  him  the  same  faithful  service  that  they  had  displayed 
to  his  predecessors. 

Nor  were  the  Duke  of  Alen§on  and  the  King  of  Navarre 
overlooked,  at  a  moment  when  maternal  grief  is  wont  to  induce 
forgetfulness  of  everything  save  its  own  bitterness.  The  two 
state  prisoners  were  summoned  into  Catharine's  presence. 
They  were  told  that  their  fate  hung  upon  their  submission. 
"  Promise  to  make  no  attempt  to  escape  from  me,  and  I  will 
leave  Yincennes  for  Paris;  otherwise  I  shall  remain  in  the 
castle  until  my  son's  return  from  Poland."  The  youths  not 
only  yielded  a  most  humble  assent,  but  made  no  objection  to 
signing  letters  addressed  to  the  governors  of  all  the  provinces, 
commending  the  queen  mother's  course,  and  advocating  a  loyal 


8 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.         Cu.  I. 


recognition  of  her  authority.'  But  on  reaching  the  Louvre, 
the  princes  scarcely  found  theii-  condition  improved.  Catha- 
rine kept  her  son  and  the  King  of  Navarre  within  the  castle, 
with  guard  upon  guard.  She  had  the  chamber-windows  grated 
like  a  prison,  and  stopped  all  the  back  passages  into  the  town. 
"  There  is  marvellous  misliking  at  this  dealing  amongst  all  men," 
exclaims  the  indignant  English  ambassador.  None  the  less  did 
the  queen  mother  maintain  with  effrontery  to  all  with  whom 
she  conversed,  that  she  would  not  have  accepted  the  regency 
except  at  the  request  of  the  princes,  and  that  whatever  was 
done  was  done  by  their  consent.  At  this  very  moment  every- 
body knew  that  in  truth  Alengon  did  not  dare  to  speak  to  any- 
one and  no  one  dared  speak  to  him.  It  was  a  curious  com- 
mentary upon  the  queen's  hypocritical  assurances,  that,  directly 
after  the  audience  at  which  she  gave  utterance  to  them,  Alengon 
and  Navarre  sent  a  messenger  to  the  favored  Englishmen,  to 
state  that  they  had  been  constrained  to  use  the  speeches  they 
liad  made.  They  desired  Queen  Elizabeth  to  continue  her  good 
friendship,  and  asked  that  she  be  informed  when  the  Prince  of 
Conde  should  be  ready  to  start  from  Germany.  Indeed,  they 
entreated  the  prudent  Queen  of  England  to  effect  a  landing  on 
the  coasts  of  Normandy,  and  entered  into  details  of  so  perilous 
a  character  that  the  envoys  deemed  it  the  dictate  of  prudence 
not  to  commit  them  to  paper.'' 

M.  de  Chemerault,  Catharine's  messenger  to  Poland,  was  en- 
trusted with  a  long  letter  to  the  absent  king.    This  production 
— no  formal  state  paper,  the  work  of  the  pen  of  her 

Catharine's  .  ■  . 

letter  to  her  Secretaries,  but  bearing  on  every  line  the  impress  of 
the  queen  mother's  own  mind — reveals  the  existence 
of  a  certain  kind  of  grief,  and  of  a  cool  calculation  that  seems 
never  to  have  forsaken  her.  The  grief  is  natural  enough,  but 
thoroughly  selfish  in  its  origin  and  manifestation,  and  quite 

'  Recueil  des  choses  memorables,  508  ;  Jean  de  Serres,  Commeutarii  de 
statu  religionis  et  reipublicae,  pars  v.,  Henrico  tertio  rege  (Ley den,  1580), 
fols.  2,  3  ;  Vincenzo  Alaraanni  to  Fr.  de'  Medici,  Paris,  June  2,  1574,  Negocia- 
tions  diplomatiques  avec  la  Toscane,  iii.  931. 

"  News  from  Paris,"  sent  by  Dr.  Dale  to  Lord  Burleigh,  June  7,  1574  ; 
Dr.  Dale  to  Smith  and  Walsingham,  June  21  ;  Dr.  Dale  to  Lord  Burleigh, 
same  date.    State  Paper  Office. 


1574. 


ACCESSION  OF  HENRY  OF  VALOIS. 


9 


under  the  control  of  the  writer's  wilL  It  is  a  piteous  sorrow, 
she  says,  that  has  befallen  a  mother  called  so  often  to  wit- 
ness the  successive  deaths  of  her  children.  She  has  hut  one 
consolation — the  hope  of  seeing  Henry  soon  return  to  enjoy  his 
new  honors.  She  warns  him  that  if  she  were  to  be  called  upon 
to  lose  him  too,  she  would  not  consent  to  survive  him.  "In 
•  that  case,"  she  says,  "  I  should  cause  myself  to  be  buried  alive 
with  you  !  "  She  begs  him  to  select  the  safest  road  returning 
- — rather  the  way  through  the  dominions  of  the  Emperor  and 
through  Italy,  than  the  way  through  the  lands  of  the  German 
princes,  who  have  too  many  grounds  of  quarrel  with  France. 
She  entreats  him  above  all  to  make  no  delay  in  setting  out,  to 
accede  to  no  requests  from  his  Polish  subjects  who  might  wish 
to  detain  him  until  he  had  introduced  order  into  the  affairs  of 
their  country.  At  the  same  time  she  suggests,  with  her  usual 
forethought,  that  it  may  be  well  to  leave  some  one  to  govern 
temporarily  iu  his  place,  in  order  that  the  crown  of  Poland  may 
either  be  retained  by  him,  or  secured  for  his  younger  brother, 
or  for  the  second  of  his  own  prospective  sons.  As  for  France, 
she  counsels  him  to  govern  wisely  and  prudently,  for  the  honor 
of  God  and  the  welfare  of  his  subjects  ;  to  protect  and  reward 
the  well-disposed,  but  to  renounce  faction,  party  spirit,  and  in- 
timacies. "  You  are  no  longer  Monsieur  ....  you  are 
a  Kincj  who  must  be  served,  revered,  and  loved  by  all."  ' 

Meantime,  while  the  parent  who  subscribed  herself  "  your 
good  and  affectionate  mother,  if  ever  there  was  one  on  earth, 
Cathakine,"  was  pouring  forth  her  measured  grief 

Mourning  of  ,  r  i        i  i  i 

"LaKeine  aud  poiitic  advice  into  the  ears  or  lier  best  loved  son, 
the  young  wife  of  Charles  the  Ninth  indulged  in  os- 
tentatious manifestations  of  sorrow  for  the  untimely  death  of 
a  prince  respecting  whom  the  pope  declared  that  his  remark- 
able piety  and  singular  virtue  had  been  seen  in  the  midst  of  the 
greatest  dangers  and  the  most  trying  emergencies.^    In  a  dark 

'  Catharine  to  Henry  III.,  Bois  de  Vincennes,  May  31,  1574,  Groen  van 
Prinsterer,  Archives  de  la  maison  d'Orange-Nassau,  v.  13-16. 

^  "Cujus  insignem  pietatem,  siugularemque  in  maximis  periculosissimisque 
ejus  regni  motibus  difficillimisqne  temporibus  virtutem  perspexeramus."  Greg- 
ory XIII.  to  Fred,  de'  Medici,  June  11,  1574,  Negociations  avec  la  Toscane, 
iii.  'J32. 


10 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.         Ca  I. 


room  whence  every  ray  of  the  light  of  heaven  was  carefully 
excluded,  Maximilian's  daughter  shut  herself  from  the  world 
for  forty  days  to  bewail  her  husband's  death.  The  walls,  the 
ceiling,  the  floor,  were  draped  in  black ;  the  only  light  came 
from  two  small  candles  that  rather  revealed  than  dispelled  the 
darkness.  Elizabeth  herself — "  La  reine  blanche  "  ' — was  clad 
from  head  to  foot  in  white,  the  immemorial  badge  of  mourning  • 
of  a  widowed  qneen.  Her  ladies  wore  dresses  of  the  same 
color,  in  startling  contrast  with  the  funereal  garb  of  the  gentle- 
men-in-waiting. The  mixture  of  black  and  white,  with  the 
faces  pale  as  death  in  the  deep  gloom,"  says  one  that  witnessed 
the  scene,  "  produced  a  very  touching  and  painful  sight." ' 

The  announcement  of  his  brother's  fatal  illness  had  created 
in  Henry  of  Anjou  a  restless  and  expectant  condition  of  mind 
Henry-8  wliich  he  could  not  conceal  from  the  eyes  of  his  at- 
anxiety.  teudants  ;  the  tidings  of  that  brother's  death  occa- 
sioned a  joy  that  gleamed  in  every  feature.  How  to  get  back 
to  France  as  speedilv  as  possible,  was  the  problem  which  he  set 
about  solving  with  the  help  of  the  little  company  of  his  coun- 
trymen that  formed  the  inner  circle  of  his  confidants.  All 
M'ere  agreed  that  no  time  must  be  lost.  Delay  might  be  disas- 
trous to  the  claims  of  the  absent  prince  upon  his  ancestral 
throne.  There  was  a  powerful  party  that  alleged  that  Henry's 
acceptance  of  the  Polish  crown  involved  a  virtual  renunciation 
of  the  French  crown  in  favor  of  his  brother,  the  Duke  of  Alen- 
gon.  True,  Alengon  was  in  safe  custody,  and  had  paid  for  his 
cowardice  by  the  sacrifice  of  his  accomplices.    So  far  so  good. 


'  The  name  was  derived  from  Queen  Blanche,  mother  of  Saint  Louis,  a 
model  ruler,  according  to  Etienne  Pasquier,  "  laquelle  s'y  comporta  avec  telle 
sagesse,  que  tout  ainsi  que  les  Empereurs  de  Rome  se  faisoient  appeller  Au- 
gustes  en  commemoration  de  I'heur  qui  s'estoit  trouve  au  grand  Empereur 
Auguste,  aussi  toutes  les  Roynes  Meres  anciennement,  apres  le  dects  des  Roys 
leurs  maris  vouloient  estre  nommees  Roynes  Blanches,  par  une  honorable 
memoire  tiree  du  bou  gouvernement  de  cette  sage  Princesse."  Recherches  de 
la  France,  chap.  18,  book  2,  p.  142. 

"  II  che  faeeva,  con  la  mistione  del  color  nero  e  bianco,  e  con  le  faccie  loro 
del  color  della  morte  in  questa  obscurita  grandissima,  un  niolto  acerbo  e 
doloroso  spettacolo  a  riguardare."  Alamauui  to  the  Grand  Duke,  June  14, 
1574,  Negociations  avec  la  Toscane,  iv.  12. 


1574. 


ACCESSION  OF  HENRY  OF  VALOIS. 


11 


"  If  ever  I  felt  joy,"  Ileniy  had  written  to  one  of  his  intimate 
friends,  "  it  was  when  I  learned  that  La  Mole  and  Coconnas 
were  well  caged,  but  I  shall  never  be  fully  satisfied  till  they 
dance  with  the  rope  about  their  necks."  '  But  the  further  wish, 
which  he  had  confined  himself  to  hinting — that  the  same  fate 
might  also  overtake  othei's,  doubtless  referring  to  the  King  of 
Navarre,  the  Prince  of  Conde,  and  above  all,  the  Duke  of  Alen- 
9on — -had  not  been  fulfilled.  Alengon  still  lived,  and  might  at 
any  moment  be  suppoi-ted  as  a  candidate  for  the  crown,  if  not 
by  French  arms,  at  least  by  the  arms  of  the  troublesome  neigh- 
bors and  allies  of  France.  Indeed,  no  sooner  had  William  of 
Orange  heard  that  Charles  was  dead  than  he  wrote  that  it  was 
now  time  that  the  German  princes  should  put  forth  every  exer- 
tion to  secure  the  crown  for  the  Duke  of  Alen9on.- 

The  ambition  of  his  brother  was  not  the  only,  nor,  perhaps, 
the  chief  danger  to  be  apprehended  by  Henry.  All  France 
The  Hugue-  was  in  commotiou.  The  Huguenots  were  in  arms, 
notsinarms.  The  bloody  niassacre  of  two  years  before,  beginning 
in  Paris,  and  repeating  itself  throughout  the  provinces,  had  not 
crushed  them.  The  perfidy  of  the  court  had  made  them  more 
wary,  the  evident  determination  of  their  enemies  to  compass 
their  destruction  had  made  them  more  resolute  than  ever  to 
stand  for  their  defence.  Their  recent  struggle  had  been  insti- 
tuted rather  with  the  desperation  of  men  determined  to  sell 
their  lives  as  dear  as  possible,  than  with  any  distinct  hope  of 
success;  the  fav^orable  issue  of  many  of  their  enterprises  had 
converted  the  conflict  into  a  war  for  the  recovery  of  the  rights 
pledged  by  solemn  royal  edicts.  They  were  not  crouching  at 
tlie  feet  of  a  conqueror,  and  suing  for  their  lives ;  but  demand- 
ing liberty  of  religions  worship  in  their  sanctuaries,  and  satis- 
faction for  the  treachery  practised  upon  their  brethren  in  the 

'  "  Si  jamais  j'eus  joye,  c'a  est6  quand  j'ay  s^eu  que  La  Mole  et  Coconas  sont 
en  caige,  mais  jusques  a  ce  que  le  Seigneur  qui  les  traictoit  si  doucement  a  la 
Rochelle  ou  un  sien  compaiguon  les  halt  fait  dancer  avecque  la  corde  la  [votte], 
je  ne  seray  pas  bien  satisfait."  Henry  of  Anjou  to  M.  de  Nancay,  May  10, 
1574,  Groen  van  Prinsterer,  iv.  375. 

■■^  "Et  seroit  maintenant  temps  que  les  Princes  d'Allemaigne  fissent  tout 
debvoir  possible  pour  faire  donner  la  Couronne  an  Due  d'Alencon."  Letter  of 
the  Prince  of  Orange,  June,  1574,  Groen  van  Prinsterer,  v.  13. 


12 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE. 


Ch.  L 


faith.  Either  their  demands  must  be  granted,  or  their  armed 
forces  must  be  met  in  the  field,  and  their  strongholds  carried  at 
the  point  of  the  sword.  And  the  problem  was  complicated  by 
Revival  of  the  remarkable  revival  of  the  feudal  spirit  which  the 
feudalism.  Jatjer  half  of  the  sixteenth  century  was  destined  to 
witness — a  revival  which,  if  it  obtained  its  full  development 
only  in  the  reign  that  was  just  beginning,  must  be  regarded  as 
deriving  its  first  powerful  impulse  from  the  reign  of  Charles 
the  Xinth.  The  king  that  undertook  to  wage  war  with  a  por- 
tion of  his  subjects,  found  himself  compelled  to  purchase  the 
support  of  the  leading  nobles  in  each  pi-ovince  by  the  tacit 
acknowledgment  of  privileges  which,  when  once  conceded,  as- 
sured to  them  a  species  of  local  independence.  The  vicious 
system  of  the  transmission  of  civil  and  military  oflfices  from 
parent  to  child  received  a  dangerous  corroboration.  The  son 
was  trained  from  his  earliest  days  to  regard  the  dignities  and 
territorial  authority  of  his  father  as  his  own  just  inheritance; 
and  any  attempt  or  threat  of  the  crown  to  confer  them  upon 
another,  no  matter  how  much  more  competent  he  might  be  for 
the  discharge  of  the  functions  connected  therewith,  was  re- 
sented as  an  insult,  and  was  sure  to  lead  to  open  resistance. 
The  great  nobles  were  almost  sovereign  princes  in  their  gov- 
ernments or  provinces,  the  original  gift  of  the  ancestors  of  the 
reigning  monarch  ; '  they  could  be  removed  only  by  a  war  that 
might  convulse  the  kingdom.  And  the  consideration  which 
they  demanded  from  their  lord  paranaount  was  exacted  of  them 
in  turn  by  the  members  of  the  inferior  nobility,  to  whom  had 
been  entrusted  the  administration  of  dioceses,  cities,  or  castles. 


'  "Many  of  the  greatest  lords,  some  secretly,  some  openly,  were  alienated," 
sa3'S  Davila,  in  speaking  of  this  period ;  "  and  divers  of  those  who  had  most 
experience  in  affairs,  most  authority  with  the  people,  and  most  reputation  in 
war,  were  already  (if  I  may  use  that  word),  cantomzed  in  their  several  prov- 
inces and  governments.  '  Eng.  trans,  (book  vi.),  p.  203.  Cf.  Lestoile's  desig- 
nation, in  1583  (  i.  162),  of  Montmorency,  formerly  Damville,  as  "  gouverneur 
ou  pour  mieux  dire  roy  de  Languedoc."  So,  too  (  i.  63),  when  speaking  of 
the  refusal  of  the  Baron  de  RufFee,  Governor  of  Angouleme,  to  admit  Alengon 
(1575),  despite  repeated  orders  of  the  king  and  of  Catharine  de'  Medici,  "  des- 
quelles  les  gouverneurs  faisoient  fort  peu  d'estat  en  ce  temps  de'  guerre,  estans 
rois  eux-mesmes." 


1574. 


ACCESSION  OF  HENRY  OF  VALOIS. 


13 


Insubordination  was  rapidly  becoming  not  the  exception  but 
tlie  rule.  Soon  Henry  the  Third  would  have  occasion  to  make 
the  bitter  remark:  "  See  what  civil  wars  come  to!  Formerly 
it  would  have  puzzled  a  constable,  a  prince  of  the  blood,  to 
make  a  party  in  France  ;  now  the  very  varlets  make  one."  '  It 
was  almost  a  necessary  consequence  of  this  relaxation  of  the 
bonds  of  the  central  government  that  disorder  often  ran  riot, 
with  few  to  stop  its  progress/ 

Evidently  Henry  must  lose  no  imnecessary  time  in  returning 
to  France,  in  accordance  with  the  entreaties  of  his  mother. 

But  how  should  he  accomplish  his  object,  in  view  of 
the  King  of  the  obstacles  which  the  Poles  would  certainly  inter- 
pose ?  The  king's  most  candid  and  prudent  advisers, 
Bellievre  and  Pibrac,  counselled  him  to  adopt  the  manly  course. 
Let  him  consult  with  his  Polish  nobles  ;  let  him  establish  order, 
and  impart  that  confidence  which  Poland,  so  long  a  prey  to  dis- 
cord and  confusion,  greatly  needed  ;  and  then  let  him,  with  the 
consent  of  his  subjects,  and  followed  by  their  good  wishes,  re- 
A'isit  France.  At  the  price  of  a  delay  which  might,  indeed,  be 
tedious,  and  extend  over  months,  but  which  would  save  him  the 
loss  of  a  crown  for  the  acquisition  of  which  much  trouble  and 
money  had  been  expended  not  a  year  ago,  Henry  would  render 
himself  beloved,  and  gain  a  power  that  might  be  of  great  im- 
portance to  his  own  ancestral  dominions.  On  the  other  hand, 
Villequier,  Souvre,  and  others — ministers  of  the  king's  pleas- 
ures— recommended  an  instant  i-etreat  from  a  region  distasteful 
to  Henry  under  any  circumstances,  and  now  doubly  I'epulsive. 
Since  this  step  could  not  be  taken  openly,  let  it  be  accomplished 
in  secrecy.  The  disgrace  sure  to  attach  to  the  cowardly  act  was 
set  forth  by  Pibrac,  but  all  in  vain.  It  was  a  part  of  the  mis- 
fortune that  always  seemed  to  cling  to  the  last  Valois  king  of 

'  Lestoile  (November,  1575),  i.  62. 

'  The  incident  related  by  Claude  Haton  (ii.  770-773),  although  in  some  re- 
spects characteristic  of  the  period,  can  scarcely  be  regarded  as  directly  trace- 
able to  the  source  indicated  in  the  text.  Tlie  leader  of  the  band  of  several 
hundred  marauders  who,  for  some  days  or  weeks,  struck  terror  into  the  in- 
habitants of  the  towns  and  villages  of  Brie,  and  killed,  plundered,  and  rav- 
ished with  little  armed  opposition,  had  raised  his  robber-soldiers  under  the 
warrant  of  forged  letters  of  the  king. 


14 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE. 


Ch.  L 


France  that  he  gave  a  more  ready  hearing  to  bad  than  to  good 
advice.' 

There  is  no  need  that  the  details  of  the  precipitate  and  un- 
kingly  flight  from  Cracow  to  Vienna  should  here  be  repeated. 
Never  did  monarch  begin  his  reign  by  a  more  inauspicious  act, 
His  escape  or  give  clearer  proof  to  the  world  that  pusillanimity 
from  Cracow,  jj^^y  easily  cocxist  with  exalted  station.  If  the  bril- 
liancy of  his  entertainment  by  the  emperor  could  have  com- 
pensated for  the  ignominy  of  his  own  course,  Henry  might 
have  recovered  his  self-respect  when  once  he  had  gotten  be- 
yond the  reach  of  his  pursuers.  But  it  may  well  be  doubted 
whether  all  the  imperial  courtesies,  accompanied  bj'  the  sug- 
gestion that  Henry  should  marry  his  brother's  widow,  were 
sufficient  to  obliterate  from  his  mind  the  contrast  between  the 
circumstances  attending  his  advent  to  Poland  and  those  of  his 
departure. 

From  Vienna  the  French  king  proceeded  after  a  short  stay 
to  Venice,  where  he  was  received  with  eveiy  mark  of  profound 
Henry  at  respect,  and  entertained  with  a  pomp  that  dazzled 
Venice.  ^jjg  gygg  ^yi  spectators.  "  As  Venice  surpasses  all 
other  cities  of  Italy,"  says  a  contemporary,  "  so  during  his 
sojourn  of  ten  days  did  Venice  seem  to  have  outdone  itself  in 
the  magnificence  of  its  banquets  and  spectacles."^  It  was, 
however,  but  sorry  fruit  of  so  much  splendor,  if,  as  his  own  at- 
tendants asserted,  Henry  became,  from  the  moment  of  his 
visit  to  the  luxurious  republic  of  the  Adriatic,  a  changed  per- 
son, appearing  to  have  lost  all  manhood,  and  to  have  become 
weakly  and  effeminate.'  If  Henry  had  been  in  haste  to  start 
for  his  native  land,  he  now  showed  no  disposition  to  hurry 
away  from  the  enchantments  of  Italy.  Accompanied  by  the 
Duke  of  Savoy,  who  had  come  to  do  him  honor,  he  leisurely 
made  his  progress,  stopping  successively  at  Ferrara,  at  Mantua, 

'  De  Thou,  V.  55,  56  ;  Jean  de  Serres,  v.  fols.  18-20. 

^  "  Tanta  conviviorum  et  spectaciilorum  magnificentia,  ut  Venetia,  quae 
omnes  Italiae  urbes  superat,  seipsam  tunc  superasse  omnino  videatur. "  Jeau 
de  Serres,  v.  fol.  24. 

2  Ibid.,  V.  fol.  25.  The  lascivious  displaj'S  to  which  Henry  was  treated 
were  as  unworthy  of  the  doge  who  afforded  them  as  they  seem  to  liave  been 
enervating  to  the  young  prince  by  whom  they  were  witnessed. 


1574. 


ACCESSION  OF  HENRY  OF  VALOIS. 


15 


and  at  Turin,  It  was  not  until  the  second  anniversary  of  the 
massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew's  day  (the  twenty-fourth  of  Au- 
gust, ISTi),  that  he  reached  the  capital  of  the  Duke  of  Savoy, 
whose  devoted  services  to  the  French  monarch  were  amply  re- 
warded by  the  impolitic  cession  of  Pignerol  and  Savillian,  with 
the  Valley  of  Perouse.  These  places  had  been  left  in  the 
hands  of  the  French,  according  to  the  terms  of  the  Treaty  of 
Cateau  Cambresis,  as  security  for  the  restitution  of  those  pos- 
sessions of  France  which  were  still  in  the  power  of  the  Duke 
of  Savoy.  They  were  now  given  up  without  an  equivalent,  con- 
trary to  the  advice  of  the  best  generals  of  France.' 

It  is  time,  however,  that  we  should  turn  to  the  operations  of 
the  Huguenots  during  the  months  that  elapsed  between  the 
Huguenot  death  of  Charles  and  the  arrival  of  Henry  in  French 
leaders.  territory.  When  the  luckless  "  Enterprise  of  Saint 
Germain  "  came  to  an  inglorious  end,  through  the  treachery  or 
cowardice  of  Alen9on,  about  three  months  before  the  conclu- 
sion of  the  last  reign,  the  Prince  of  Conde,  more  fortunate 
than  his  cousin,  the  King  of  Kavarre,  succeeded  in  making 
good  his  escape  from  Picardy  into  Germany.  The  younger 
Montmorencies,  the  Sieurs  de  Thore  and  Meru,  joining  him  in 
his  exile,  added  to  his  authority  the  prestige  of  the  name  of 
the  oldest  noble  family  in  France.  Conde,  in  view  of  the  in- 
voluntary restraint  of  Alen9on  and  ls"avarre,  assumed  the  dig- 
nity of  the  first  prince  of  the  blood. 

With  the  restless  activity  characteristic  of  that  impetuous 
prince,  Henry  of  Conde  wrote  or  sent  messengers  in  every  di- 
The  Prince  I'Gction,  whcncc  help  for  the  persecuted  Huguenots 
of  Conde.  might  be  expected.  Again  and  again,  feeling  the 
need  of  good  advice,  he  begged  the  magistrates  of  Geneva  to 
"  lend "  him  Theodore  Beza,  their  most  prominent  religious 
teacher,  scarcely  less  highly  valued  as  a  priadent  counsellor  in 
political  affairs  than  prized  as  a  learned  theologian  and  an  elo- 
quent preacher.  In  fact,  so  frequent  and  inconvenient  did  his 
calls  become  that  at  last  even  the  self-denying  Genevese  grew 
tired,  and  suggested  that  Conde  should  henceforth  obtain  the 
desired  counsel  from  the  pen  rather  than  from  the  lips  of  the 

'  De  Thou,  V.  100,  116-118  ;  Jean  de  Serres,  v.  foL  27. 


16 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE. 


Ch.  1. 


reformer.  Ou  one  occasion  the  prince  came  in  person  to 
Geneva,  and  there  received  a  flattering  welcome.  The  Coun- 
cil, whose  notions  of  the  sanctity  of  the  Lord's  Day  seem  to 
have  been  somewhat  lax,  among  other  tokens  of  good  will, 
voted  to  "  feast  "  Conde  and  his  principal  attendants ;  and  the 
banquet,  at  which,  we  are  told  with  great  precision,  six  tables 
were  spread,  was  set  down  for  Sunday,  the  third  of  October.' 

There,  by  letters  and  messages,  aroused  the  dormant  energies 
of  his  brother.  Marshal  Damville,  and  impressed  upon  him  the 
necessity  of  instituting  a  vigorous  struggle  to  rescue  from  life- 
long imprisonment,  if  not  from  death,  the  captive  head  of  the 
family,  Marshal  Montmorency,  the  Constable's  oldest  son.^ 

From  Strasbourg  and  Basle,  as  from  a  centre,  went  forth  the 
influences  that  for  two  years  maintained  the  Huguenots  in  the 
field,  enlisted  in  their  behalf  the  sympathy  and  substantial  sup- 
port of  the  Protestant  Princes  of  Germany,  and  finally  secured 
very  favorable  terms  of  peace.  The  importance  of  the  Prot- 
estant court  on  the  banks  of  the  Rhine  may  best  be  ganged  by 
the  care  taken  by  Catharine  de'  Medici  to  maintain  a  body  of 
salaried  spies  about  Conde  and  his  Huguenot  companions,  to 
keep  her  well  informed  respecting  all  their  movements.  She 
could  scarcely  have  exhibited  more  solicitude  to  learn  the 
secrets  of  a  rival  capital.' 

The  Huguenot  arms  fared  differently  in  the  Is  orth  and  in  the 
South.  Everything  went  ill  with  the  Protestants  in  Normandy 
Losses  in  siuce  the  capture  of  Coimt  Montgomery  at  the  sur- 
Normandy.  pender  of  Douifront,  three  days  before  the  decease 
of  King  Charles.  In  her  glee  at  having  finally  gotten  posses- 
sion of  the  unfortunate  knight  who  had  been  the  instrument 
of  the  death  of  her  husband,  Catharine  de'  Medici  did  not 
wait  for  Henry's  return  from  Poland,  but  hastened  Montgom- 

>  Henri  Fazy,  Geneve,  le  Parti  Huguenot  et  le  Traite  de  Soleure,  16,  28. 
-  Jean  de  Serres,  v.  fol.  8. 

'  "  Neque  obscuri  runiores  serebantur,  Politicorum  illorum  uon  paucos  pri- 
marife  notse,  ReginK  opere  et  artibus  succenturiatos,  ad  Condaeum  in  eum  finem 
accedere,  wt  illius  consilia  explorarent."  Jean  de  Serres,  v.  fols.  17,  18. 
Agrippa  d'  Aubigne  (Hist,  imiv.,  ii.  ITG,  177)  pretends  to  give  the  number  of 
the  paid  spies  kept  by  Catharine  about  her  sou  Aleuijou  and  Navarre  as  exactly 
twenty-six. 


1574. 


ACCESSION  OF  HENRY  OF  VALOIS. 


17 


ei-j's  trial,  and  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  hiui  beheaded  for 
treason  on  the  Place  de  Greve,  while  Henry  was  still  in  Vi- 
enna.' Deprived  of  their  leader,  and  overwhelmed  by  superior 
numbers,  the  ]S^orman  Huguenots  lost  one  place  after  another. 
Saint-L6  was  taken  by  assault,  and  two  hundred  men  of  its 
garrison  were  piit  to  the  edge  of  the  sword ;  Carentan  obtained 
honorable  terms  and  surrendered  without  a  blow,"  It  was 
otherwise  in  Languedoc  and  Dauphiny.  Marshal  Damville, 
Governor  of  Languedoc,  althoiigh  he  apprehended  that  he 
might  soon  be  compelled  to  make  common  cause  with  the  Hu- 
sruenots,  at  first  merely  concluded  a  ti'uce  with  them : 

Marshal  o  ?  t/  ? 

Damville  and  for,  if  he  distrustcd  the  Roman  Catholic  partv,  he 

th6  Pari  13-  V-i 

ment  of  had  certainly  no  affection  for  the  Protestants.  Even 
the  truce,  however,  displeased  the  bigots  of  Toulouse ; 
especially  as  the  truce  was  to  be  followed  by  a  convocation  of 
the  three  estates  of  the  province  at  Montpellier.  So  the  Par- 
liament of  Toulouse  ventured  upon  the  bold  step  of  defying 
tlitJ  marshal's  authority  by  two  public  declarations.  By  the 
one  the  judges  declared  the  truce  to  be  null  and  void  ;  while 
by  the  other  they  forbade  all  persons,  of  whatever  rank  or  sta- 
tion, from  attending  an  assembly  called  by  the  marshal  without 
the  king's  permission,  on  pain  of  being  declared  rebels  and 
transgressors  of  the  laws  of  the  realm.'  It  was  not  long,  how- 
ever, before  the  judges  had  more  substantial  i-easons  for  solici- 
tude in  the  capture  of  the  important  city  of  Castres,  situated 
Capture  of  Igss  than  forty  miles  eastward  of  the  seat  of  their 
castrea.  parliament.  Four  times  had  the  Protestant  exiles 
from  Castres  sought  to  recover  their  homes  from  tlie  hands  of 
the  enemy,  and  four  times  had  they  signally  failed.  Now,  on 
the  eve  of  a  day  of  mournful  associations  for  French  Protes- 
tants (the  twenty-third  of  August,  1574),  a  fifth  attempt, 
planned  and  carried  out  with  equal  shrewdness  and  daring, 
proved  altogether  successful.  The  chronicler  of  the  exploit  has 
noted  as  worthy  of  everlasting  remembrance  the  humble  but 
glorious  names  of  the  thirteen  braves,  who,  under  the  leader- 

'  Rise  of  the  Huguenots,  ii.  631-634.  -  De  Thou,  v.  63. 

'  Recueil  des  choses  memorables,  511  :  Jean  de  Series,  v.  fols.  5,  6;  De 
Thou,  V.  65. 

Vol.  I.— 2 


18 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE. 


Ch.  I. 


ship  of  the  gallant  Jean  de  Bouffard,  Sieur  de  la  Grange,  forced 
their  way  in,  through  dangers  that  might  well  have  appalled  less 
determined  men.  It  was  one  of  the  most  glorious  enterprises 
of  a  time  abounding  in  venturesome  undertakings.'  In  Dau- 
phiny,  where  the  experienced  Huguenot  Montbrun  was  con- 
fronted by  the  Roman  Catholic  Prince  Dauphin,  eldest  son  of  the 
Duke  of  Bourbon-Montpensier,''  success  perched  alternately  on 
the  one  and  the  other  standard.  Here  a  town  of  small  size  and 
of  no  previous  or  subsequent  importance  suddenly  acquired  celeb- 
rity in  consequence  of  the  two  sieges  which  it  underwent.  Li- 
First  siege  of  vron,  a  place  scarcely  deserving  a  more  pretentious 
Livron.  designation  than  that  of  a  simple  village,  was  situated 
on  tjie  northern  bank  of  tlie  river  Drome  near  its  confluence 
with  the  Rhone,  not  more  than  ten  or  twelve  miles  sonth  of 
the  episcopal  city  of  Yalence.    Its  very  proximity  to  Yalence, 

■  See  the  long  and  interesting  account  in  Jacques  Gaclies,  "  Memoires  sur  las 
guerres  de  religion  a  Castres  et  dans  le  Languedoc  "  (first  published  by  Charles 
Pradel  in  1879),  174,  etc.  Among  the  most  conspicuous  of  the  thirteen  w^re 
two  brothers  Jacques  and  Antoine  Mascarenc,  or  Mascarene,  one  of  whom  may 
Jiave  been  the  progenitor  of  the  Huguenot  confessor  and  refugee  for  religion's 
sake,  Jean  Mascarene,  whose  story  is  told,  iind  whose  remarkable  letters  are 
printed,  in  the  History  of  the  Huguenot  Emigration  to  America,  by  Charles 
AV.  Baird,  ii.  124-127,  and  Appendix,  344-377. 

-  Francjois  de  Bourbon,  Prince  Dauphin  d'Auvergne  (such  was  the  terri- 
torial designation  of  the  eldest  son  of  the  Duke  of  Montpensier),  was  a  half- 
brother  of  the  Princess  Charlotte  de  Bourbon,  whom,  about  a  year  subsequent 
to  these  occurrences  (June  12,  157.5),  the  Prince  of  Orange  married  after  the 
divorce  of  the  iiuhappy  Anne  of  Saxony.  (See  Groen  van  Prinsterer,  v.  812 ; 
Motley,  Dutch  Republic,  iii.  21.)  Charlotte  had  been  secretly  brought  up  by 
her  mother,  Jacqueline  de  Longwy,  in  the  Protestant  faith.  This  faith  she 
never  renounced.  In  1559,  an  aunt  having  resigned  in  her  favor  the  rich 
abbacy  of  Jouarre,  Charlotte  was  forced  to  obey  her  father  and  enter  the  con- 
vent ;  not,  however,  before  she  had  signed  before  a  notary  a  protest  against 
the  act  as  one  of  constraint.  The  abbess  embraced,  in  1572,  the  first  oppor- 
tunity to  escape  from  the  convent  and  from  France,  taking  refuge  at  the 
court  of  the  elector  palatine  in  Heidelberg.  The  elector  refused  to  give  her 
up  to  her  father,  unless  the  promise  were  first  given  that  she  should  enjoy 
her  religious  liberty.  De  Thou,  iv.  .533,  534  ;  Haag,  La  France  protestante 
t2nd  edit.),  art.  Bourbon-Montpensier,  ii.  1088,  1089.  Her  brother  became 
Duke  of  Montpensier  on  the  death  of  his  father  (Louis),  in  September,  1582 
(De  Thou,  vi.  205).  He  was,  like  his  father,  a  devout  Roman  Catholic  ;  but, 
unlike  him,  he  was  fair  and  conciliatory  in  liis  sentiments  toward  the  Protes- 
tants.   His  son,  Henry,  died  without  male  heirs  iu  1608. 


1574. 


ACCESSION  OP  HENRY  OP  VALOIS. 


19 


while  causing  it  to  be  overlooked  by  the  Roman  Catholics, 
added  to  its  attractions  for  the  adventurous  Montbrun.  This 
sagacious  general,  finding  that  Livi-on  had  become  the  refuge 
of  many  of  the  Huguenots  of  the  neighborhood,  labored  to 
strengthen  its  weak  fortifications,  and  worked  to  such  good  pur- 
pose that,  when  the  Prince  Dauphin  undertook  the  siege,  the 
Huguenots  not  only  held  their  own,  but  sallying  forth  captured 
an  ensign,  spiked  a  lai-ge  cannon  brought  to  bear  against  their 
walls,  and  compelled  the  assailants  to  suspend  for  the  time 
their  offensive  operations.'  In  tlie  West  of  France  tranquillity 
seemed  for  a  time  to  be  secured.  A  truce  was  effected  by  La 
None  between  the  Roman  Catholics  and  the  Huguenots  of 
Poitou,  Saintonge,  and  Angoumois,  according  to  the  terms  of 
which  the  Protestant  garrisons  were  to  receive  a  considerable 
monthly  subsidy.  It  was  stipulated  that  the  truce  should  last 
for  two  months,  by  which  time  the  return  of  Henry  was  ex- 
pected ;  scarcely  had  a  month  elapsed  when  Catharine  had  set 
on  foot  a  powerful  army  to  overwhelm  the  Huguenots  taken 
at  unawares."  It  was  fortunate  that  the  eye  of  La  Noue  had 
descried  the  danger  fi-om  afar,  and  that  he  had  adopted  meas- 
ures accordingly. 

Meanwhile,  before  engaging  in  active  hostilities,  the  Prince 
of  Conde  published  to  the  world  a  statement  of  the  causes  which 
oonde's  had  led  him  to  retire  from  the  French  court  with  a 
deciar,.tion.  ^^^^  noUes  and  gentlemen  of  both  religions.  The 
"  Declaration  "  was  an  impeachment  of  the  house  of  Guise  for 
all  the  high  crimes  and  misdemeanors  of  which  it  had  been 

'  Recueil  des  choses  memorables,  512  ;  De  Thou,  v.  65,  66  ;  Jean  de  Serres, 
V.  fol.  9.    The  first  siege  of  Livron  began  June  23,  and  lasted  only  a  few  days. 

^  Recueil  des  choses  memorables,  514,  518  ;  De  Thou,  v.  64,  09  ;  Inventaire 
general  de  I'Histoire  de  France  (Geneva,  1619),  ii.  472.  Although  the  name 
of  Jean  de  Serres  is  upon  the  title-page  of  the  "  Inventaire,"  it  must  be  re- 
membered that  Serres  is  the  autlior  of  the  work  only  so  far  as  page  598  of  the 
first  volume  (to  the  death  of  Charles  VI.).  The  continuation  was  written  by 
the  inferior  liand  of  Jean  de  Montlyard  (Anquetil,  Esprit  de  la  Ligue,  i.  p. 
Ixvi.),  who  drew,  however,  so  largely  upon  the  "Recueil,"'  and  the  "  Com- 
mentarii  "—genuine  works  of  Serres — that  the  "Inventaire,'"  in  the  period 
now  imder  consideration,  is  substantially  the  production  of  the  voluminous 
and  invaluable  historian  to  whom  we  are  so  greatly  indebted  for  our  close 
knowledge  of  the  events  of  the  reigns  of  Charles  IX.  and  Henry  III. 


20 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AM)  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE. 


Ch.  I. 


guilty  during  the  last  fifteen  years.  Everv  feature  of  the  course 
of  the  duke  and  his  brothers  was  passed  in  review.  The 
snrvej  began  with  the  abuse  of  their  power  over  their  nephew 
Francis  the  Second,  to  secure  the  total  extinction  of  the  royal 
family.  It  was  God,  not  jnau,  said  Conde,  that  saved  the  Bour- 
bons from  destruction.  Xext  came  the  massacre  of  Yassy, 
whereby  Francis  of  Guise  paved  the  way  for  every  subsequent 
outrage.  Four  successive  wars  had  been  ended  by  as  many 
edicts  of  pacification,  each  edict  perfidiously  violated  at  the  in- 
stigation and  by  the  acts  of  the  Guises.  The  massacre  of  St. 
Bartholomew's  day,  not  limited  to  the  murder  of  Admiral 
Coligny  nor  confined  to  the  capital,  deluged  the  whole  of  France 
with  innocent  blood.  It  was  a  crime  perpetrated  in  the  king's 
name,  after  the  commission  of  which  letters,  as  from  him,  were 
despatched  in  every  direction  to  princes  and  to  commonwealths, 
letters  infamous  both  for  France  and  for  Charles  himself.  The 
climax  of  crime  was  reached  when  the  memory  of  Gaspard  de 
Coligny  was  branded  as  that  of  a  traitor,  when  Xavarre  and  Conde 
were  compelled  to  abjure  the  purer  faith  in  which  they  had  been 
educated,  and  when,  afterward,  they  were  forced  against  their 
will  to  take  part  at  the  siege  of  La  Rochelle  in  a  warfare  against 
their  fellow-believers.  Before  this  city  the  Guises  had,  in  fact, 
entered  into  a  plot  to  assassinate  Alengon,  Xavarre,  and  the 
writer  himself — a  plot  that  would  have  been  carried  into  execu- 
tion had  not  Anjou,  the  present  King  of  Poland  and  the  legiti- 
mate successor  to  the  French  crown,  interfered  to  save  him. 
At  length,  when  Alen9on  found  himself  not  only  the  object  of 
the  murderous  attacks  of  the  Guises,  but  defrauded  of  the  posi- 
tion of  lieutenant-general  of  the  kingdom  lawfully  belonging  to 
him  on  Anjou's  departure,  and  treated  with  studied  indignity, 
the  duke  resolved  to  withdraw  from  France  and  to  seek  refuge 
with  old  and  tried  allies  of  the  realm.  The  plan  having  been 
discovered,  Alengon  had  been  thrown  into  confinement,  as 
though  he  had  plotted  to  take  the  life  of  his  own  brother, 
Charles  the  Ninth.  Conde  alone  had  succeeded,  by  the  kind 
providence  of  the  Almighty,  in  making  his  escape,  and  avoiding 
the  still  more  terrible  fate  in  preparation  against  himself. 
While  distinctly  recognizing  Henry  the  Third  as  his  rightful 


1574. 


ACCESSION  OP  HENRY  OP  VALOIS. 


21 


sovereign,  the  prince  declared  the  demands  of  the  Huguenots 
to  be  briefly  comprehended  in  three :  The  provisional  conces- 
sion of  universal  religious  liberty  ;  the  satisfaction  of  the  honor 
of  the  victims  of  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew's  day  ;  and 
the  convocation  of  the  states  general  of  the  kingdom  in  a 
free  and  legitimate  manner.  Such,  with  sundry  complaints, 
somewhat  stale  it  nuist  be  confessed,  respecting  the  prevalence 
of  immorality,  blasphemy,  and  dissoluteness  of  dress,  the  op- 
pressive taxation  of  the  people,  and  kindred  topics,  constitute 
the  chief  contents  of  a  paper  Avhich  may  well  be  regarded  as 
the  most  authoritative  declaration  of  the  principles  for  which 
the  Huguenots  were  in  arms.' 

At  the  very  moment  when  the  prince  was  giving  to  the  world 
this  public  announcement  of  his  designs,  the  Huguenots  held  in 
the  city  of  Milhau-en-Rouergue  a  political  assembly 
Smwr'at^  of  more  than  ordinary  importance.  The  South  of 
Miihau.  France  alone  was  directly  represented — Languedoc, 
Daupliiny,  and  Guyenne  ;  from  the  Is  orth  and  West  no  delegates 
were  able  to  come  on  account  of  the  desolations  of  war.  In  the 
deliberations  now  held,  the  terms  of  alliance  with  Marshal 
Damville  were  settled,  subject  only  to  the  acceptance  of  the 
latter ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  Prince  of  Conde  was 
recognized  as  generalissimo,  on  condition  that  he  should  appear 
before  the  elector  palatine,  his  son  John  Casimir,  and  the 
deputies  of  the  churches,  at  the  close  of  divine  worship,  and 
there  take  a  solemn  oath  of  fidelity  to  the  Protestant  cause. 
The  prince  was  to  promise  in  particular  to  live  and  die  in  the 
faith  of  the  Reformed  churches,  and  to  exert  all  his  powers  for 
the  defence  of  that  faith  and  for  the  procuring  of  a  public  peace 
without  religious  distinctions.  He  was  to  engage  never  to  lay 
down  his  arms  without  the  consent  of  his  co-religionists.  He 
was  to  labor  assiduously  for  the  liberation  of  Alen9on,  Navarre, 
and  Marshals  Montmorency  and  Cosse,  for  the  removal  of 
foreigners  from  office,  and  for  the  appeasing  of  all  controversies 
by  the  convocation  of  the  states  general." 

'  Jean  de  Serres,  v.  fols.  11-14  ;  Recueil  des  choses  niL-morables,  515.  The 
latter  gives  the  date,  July  12,  1574. 

^  De  Then,  v.  G8  ;  Recueil  des  choses  memorables,  510,  517  ;  Jean  de  Serres, 


22 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE. 


Ch.  L 


It  cannot  be  said  that  the  new  relations  into  which  the 
Huguenots  were  on  the  point  of  entering  were  altogether  satis- 
factory to  the  maiority  of  the  adherents  of  the  party. 

Opposition  to  ,  .  i       ,  •    i  .  , 

alliance  with  1  hc  stru£rme  which  they  had  carried  on  with  coin- 

the  rolitiques.  /  , 

paratively  brier  intermissions  tor  the  past  fourteen 
years  was  a  struggle  not  so  much  to  defend  civil  rights  as  to 
maintain  religious  life.  Reluctant  as  the  Protestants  had  been 
to  draw  the  sword  in  so  holy  a  cause,  they  had  been  recon- 
ciled to  this  wretched  necessity  by  the  hope  that  they  might  be 
able  to  maintain,  in  the  midst  of  the  horrors  of  warfare  and  the 
temptations  of  the  camp,  a  discipline  so  strict  and  exemplary  as 
to  elicit  the  approval  of  the  most  prejudiced  of  their  opponents. 
For  a  time,  under  really  devout  and  conscientious  leaders,  the 
Huguenot  armies  had  in  some  measure  realized  this  exalted 
ideal.  The  lapses  from  the  religious  and  moral  standard  had, 
however,  been  deplorably  numerous ;  and  if  it  might  still  be 
asserted  with  truth  that  the  Huguenot  soldiers  could  generally 
be  distinguished  from  the  Roman  Catholic  troops  by  a  higher 
tone  of  morals,  by  a  closer  adherence  to  truth,  by  an  absence  of 
profane  oaths  and  blasphemous  expressions,  and  by  the  fact 
that  they  were  less  addicted  to  the  crying  sin  of  the  times,  a 
foulness  of  speech  and  of  writing  almost  beyond  conception — 
if  all  this  might  be  asserted  with  truth,  yet  it  must  be  admitted 
that  the  contrast,  altogether  honorable  to  their  faith,  was  at- 
tained only  by  the  application  of  ecclesiastical  laws  and  regula- 
tions whose  severity  the  Roman  Catholics  derided  as  absurd 
and  tyrannical.  What,  then,  could  be  expected  from  an  alliance 
with  Damville  and  the  Roman  Catholics  of  his  suite  who  made 
no  pretence  of  affection  for  Protestantism  ?  It  is  true  that  the 
marshal  was  to  pledge  his  word  not  to  introduce  the  Romish 
service  into  any  town  of  which  the  Huguenots  were  masters  ;  but 
could  he  promise  that  his  soldiers  would  not  introduce  Roman 
Catholic  manners  and  practices  into  Huguenot  armies  ?  Among 
warriors  fighting  under  the  same  colors  how  could  different 
standards  of  discipline  be  established  for  the  different  corps  ? 

V.  fols.  8,  14-17.  In  complaining  of  the  unlawful  participation  of  foreigners 
in  the  public  administration,  the  Huguenots  stated  that  they  did  not  mean  to 
include  the  queen  mother. 


1574. 


ACCESSION  OF  HENRY  OF  VALOIS. 


23 


Besides,  the  marshal  himself  was  not  above  reproach,  and  his 
dissolute  life,  even  if  temporarily  veiled  by  an  appearance  of 
decency  and  self-control,  could  not  be  forgotten  by  those  ac- 
quainted with  his  past  history.' 

And  yet  we  cannot  be  astonished,  nor  can  we  condemn  ^vith 
severity  the  Huguenot  leaders  if  they  accepted  the  proffered 
help  of  the  great  Montmorency  of  the  South.  Huguenot  and 
The  alliance  Politique  had  a  common  enemy  and,  partly,  common 
a  necessity,  grievaiices.  Botli  denied  the  legitimacy  of  the  system 
under  which  France  had  been  governed  for  many  years  ;  both 
demanded  that  foreigners  be  deprived  of  the  imdue  share  of 
the  administration  which  they  held,  and  that  the  wall  of  the 
nation  be  consulted  through  the  states  general ;  both  were  in- 
dignant that  a  regent  should  pretend  to  detain  in  confinement 
the  nearest  princes  of  the  blood  and  the  noblest  subjects  of  the 
crown.  Those  that  ai-e  smarting  under  the  same  injuries  read- 
ily join  in  measures  for  mutual  defence,  and  often  scan  each 
other's  character  with  less  particularity  than  might  really  be 
advisable. 

Meantime,  while  the  confederates  were  justifying  themselves 
by  a  public  manifesto  declaring  their  reasons  and  designs,  and 
while  the  success  of  the  Roman  Catholic  army  under  Mont- 
pensier  in  the  West  was  balanced  by  the  sui-prise  of  Castres,  in 
the  South,  all  France  looked  with  eager  anxiety  for  the  young 
king's  decision. 

It  was  early  in  autumn  (tlie  sixth  of  September)  when  Henry 
reached  Lyons.     In  the  vicinity  he  had  been  met  by  his 
mother.'    Jsow  that  he  was  once  more  on  his  native 

The  question        •■,    •  ■  i  iiiin  ii> 

of  religious    soil  it  was  time  that  he  should  adopt  some  deti- 

toleration.  .  , .  .        ,  pi-  i 

nite  policy  respecting  the  government  of  his  ancestral 
kingdom.  Peace  or  w'ar,  the  toleration  of  dissent  from  the 
established  Church,  or  the  continuation  of  the  old  course  of 


'  "  Et  ipso  et  ipsius  comitatu  nihil  erat  libidinosius  neque  effoeminatius, 
ipse  spurcis  ainoribus  deditissimus,  '  etc.  Jean  de  Seri  es,  v.  fol.  37.  I  quite 
agree  with  Ranke  (Civil  Wars  and  Monarchy  in  France,  Amer.  ed.  291)  that 
Jean  de  Serres,  or  Serranus,  is  probably  the  best  authority  for  this  period. 

'  "The  king  came  to  this  town  on  the  sixtli,  the  queen  mother,  the  Dukes  of 
Alengon  and  Savoy  being  with  him  in  the  coach,  and  the  King  of  Navarr  j 


24 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AXD  HENTIY  OF  XAVARRE.         Ch.  L 


persecution :  the  liberation  of  Marshal  Montmorency,  or  a  re- 
lentless conflict  with  the  younger  sons  of  the  late  constable — 
with  Thore  now  engaged  in  collecting  forces  in  Germany : 
above  all.  with  Damville,  the  most  powerful  governor  of  South- 
ern France,  having  nnder  control  the  resources  of  the  rich  pro- 
\'ince  of  Languedoc  from  the  gates  of  Toulouse  to  the  banks 
of  the  river  Ehone — such  were  the  alternatives  confronting 
the  returning  king,  and  between  them  he  must  make  a  prompt 
decision. 

AYhat  Henry  desired  is  not  doubtful.  The  last  Yalois  was 
no  lover  of  warfare.  Xot  that  he  was  either  deticieut  in  a  cer- 
tain sort  of  bravery  or  altogether  insensible  to  the  attractions  of 
military  distinction.  Ilis  campaign  against  the  Huguenots  had 
won  him  glory,  when  acting  as  his  brother's  lieutenant-general, 
and  at  the  siege  of  La  Rochelle  he  had  exposed  himself  to  dan- 
ger to  an  extent  that  raised  the  apprehensions  of  his  mother. 
!Xow,  however,  martial  aspirations  were  altogether  a  thing  of 
Henrvs  tastes  psLSt.  His  tastes  wcre  all  pacific.  If  he  had 
pacific.  sighed  when  forsaking  the  delights  of  the  French 
court  and  turning  his  reluctant  steps  toward  the  frozen  north, 
his  sojourn  among  the  rough  and  uncultivated  Poles  had  not 
tended  to  make  Paris  less  dear.  His  escape  fi-om  his  late  un- 
congenial surroundings  appeared  to  be  a  true  emancipation 
from  bondage.  Every  stage  in  his  homeward  progress  had  con- 
firmed these  impressions.  Vienna,  Venice,  Turin  had  only 
been  stations  on  the  way  to  the  terrestrial  paradise  awaiting 
him  in  France.  For  its  fruition,  however,  peace  was  an  indis- 
pensable condition,  ^ar  was  too  expensive.  War  would  des- 
olate the  country,  and  render  whole  provinces  incapable  of  fur- 
nishing their  accustomed  tribute.  War  swallowed  up  the 
treasure  which  royal  luxury  demanded  for  its  own  use.  War 
distracted  the  minds  of  men  fi'ora  pleasure,  the  only  proper 
pursuit  of  rational  beings,  and  especially  of  kings  and  courtiers. 


on  horseback  bv  the  coach.  The  queen  mother  and  most  of  the  court  went 
to  meet  him  twelve  leagues  in  his  way.  He  keeps  far  greater  state  than  has 
been  used  heretofore."  Dr.  Dale  to  Sir  Thomas  Smith  and  Francis  Wal- 
singham,  Lyons,  September  11,  157-L    State  Paper  Office. 


1574. 


ACCESSION  OP  HENRY  OF  V ALOIS. 


25 


■Accordingly,  no  sooner  had  Henry  collected  his  thoughts  and 
begun  to  realize  the  wonderful  piece  of  good  fortune  that  had 
befallen  him  in  his  accession  to  the  throne,  though  only  the 
fourth  son  and  the  sixth  child  of  his  father,'  than  he  resolved 
to  have  peace  at  any  cost.  "  Use  every  exertion,"  he  had  writ- 
ten to  Catharine  de'  Medici,  "  to  find  the  means  of  coming  to 
an  arrangement  with  the  rebels,  and,  if  possible,  to  quiet  my 
kingdom."  '  In  fact,  if  we  may  credit  implicitly  the  king's  own 
statements  made  in  a  very  remarkable  letter  to  Villeroy,  writ- 
ten just  ten  years  later,  Henry  had  found  time,  on  his  jour- 
ney, to  reflect  maturely  upon  the  real  wants  of  France,  and 
His  first  in-  i^^^,  from  a  consideration  of  these,  and  independently 
tentions.  jjjg  q^^^  persoual  preferences,  reached  the  very 

same  conclusions.  It  was  with  deep  regret  that  he  afterward 
recognized  the  mistake  he  had  made  in  permitting  himself  to 
follow  a  different  course.  The  pivotal  point  in  his  plan  was  the 
immediate  convocation  of  the  states  general  of  the  kingdom. 
This  body  would  naturally  devise  the  best  measures  for  the 
interests  of  France  entire,  and  its  determinations  would  com- 
mand obedience  both  from  Huguenot  and  from  Roman  Cath- 
olic ;  or,  if  defied,  could  easily  be  enforced  by  royal  authority. 
By  the  States,  too,  arrangements  could  be  made  for  the  pay- 
ment of  the  debt,  and  for  tlie  thorough  reform  of  the  financial 
system.  Finally,  when  the  domestic  affairs  of  the  kingdom, 
both  religious  and  civil,  had  been  placed  on  a  firm  and  equita- 
ble basis,  Henry  would  himself  demand  of  foreign  nations  so 
definite  a  settlement  by  treaty  of  their  mutual  relations  as  to 
preclude  future  interference  in  the  concerns  of  France  on  the 
part  of  any  of  its  neighbors.^ 

'  Besides  Francis  and  Charles  he  had  another  elder  brother,  Louis,  who  died 
in  infancy.  His  sisters,  Elizabeth  (Isabella),  who  married  Philip  the  Second, 
and  Claude,  wife  of  Charles  the  Third,  Duke  of  Lorraine,  were  also  older  than 
Henry. 

•  "II  Re  ha  scritto  alia  Regina,  madre  sua,  che  si  faccia  ogni  opera,  per  tro- 
var  modi  di  accordarsi  con  li  ribelli,  e  per  quietare,  si  e  possibile,  questo 
regno.''  Alamanni  to  Grand  Duke,  Paris,  August  5,  1574,  Negociations  di- 
plomatiques  avec  la  Toscane,  iv.  IS. 

■Henry  III.  to  Villeroy,  Lyons,  August  14,  1584,  Groen  van  Prinsterer, 
Archives  de  la  maison  d  Oraiige-Nassau,  Premiere  serie.  Supplement,  233. 


26 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.         Ch.  L 


If,  indeed,  Heniy  really  devised  so  wise  a  plan,  liis  good  reso- 
lutions ought  to  have  been  confinned  by  the  advice  he  received. 
Good  advice  Vienna  the  emperor  warned  him  that  there  is  no 
%Tot&ni  great  as  that  of  treating  with  violence  the  con- 

doge,  victions  of  others.  "  Those  who  undertake  to  make 
themselves  masters  of  men's  consciences,"  Maximilian  signifi- 
cantly added,  "  while  they  think  to  conquer  heaven,  often  lose 
the  earth." '  So,  too,  at  Venice  the  doge,  Mocenigo,  had  not 
confined  himself  to  congratulating  Henry  in  the  presence  of  the 
senate,  upon  his  accession  to  the  throne,  and  wishing  him  a 
liappy  return  to  his  native  land  ;  he  also  added  a  suggestion  to 
the  effect  that  the  most  appropriate  manner  of  restoring  peace 
to  France  was  to  abolish  the  unfortunate  memory  of  the  crimes 
and  errors  committed  on  both  sides,  by  an  edict  not  more  sol- 
emnly given  than  scrupulously  observed  by  the  king.  This 
politic  course,  he  said,  would  conduce  both  to  the  dignity  and 
to  the  safety  of  the  monarch  himself.  That  was  not  all.  "When 
the  public  services  of  Henry's  reception  by  the  senate  wei-e  over, 
and  all  witnesses  were  removed,  Mocenigo  proceeded  to  give  the 
young  king,  in  the  name  of  the  senate,  the  advice  to  apply  his 
mind  seriously  to  peace,  and  to  disregard  the  warlike  counsels 
given  to  Henry,  as  he  had  learned,  by  the  papal  legate.^  More- 
over, long  before  the  king  reached  France,  an  envoy  of  the 
Of  the  elector  clcctor  palatine  was  in  Paris  on  his  way  to  meet 
palatine,  Heury  and  inform  him  that  unless  certain  conditions 
were  granted — the  liberation  of  marshals,  the  restoration  of 
Damville,  his  brothers,  and  the  Prince  of  Conde,  to  favor,  etc. — 
it  would  be  impossible  to  keep  back  the  reiters ;  an  invasion  of 
France  from  the  side  of  Germany  was  inevitable.'    William  of 

'  Recueil  des  choses  memorables,  523. 

-  This  incident  is  vouched  for  by  Jean  de  Series,  an  nnimpeachable  author- 
ity. He  states  that  he  had  the  account  directly  from  a  very  illustrious  person- 
age who  was  in  Venice  at  the  time  and  was  acquainted  with  the  most  intimate 
affairs  of  state.  Commentarii  de  statu  rel.  et  reipubl.,  v.  fol.  24.  Agrippa  d'Au- 
bigne  also  (ii.  132)  makes  the  doge  give  good  counsel  as  to  keeping  faith  with 
subjects. 

'  Alamanni  to  the  Grand  Duke,  August  5,  1574,  ubi  supra.  The  elector  pala- 
tine, had,  in  fact,  given  virtually  this  advice  in  the  last  days  of  Charles  IX. 
"  Le  dit  Sr.  Electeur  a  mande  a  S.  M.  par  le  dit  Fregouse  qu'il  ne  voit  que 


1574 


ACCESSION  OF  HENRY  OF  VALOIS. 


27 


Orange  joined  in  the  advice  so  unanimously  given  by  the  most 
trusty  allies  of  the  king,  and  gave  to  the  bearer  of  a  letter  con- 

ffratulatino-  Henry  upon  his  accession  special  instruc- 
Prince  of  tious  to  Urge  him  to  rollow  the  promptings  or  adispo- 
orange.  gition  kindly  by  nature,  and,  remembering  that  he  was 
now  the  "  father  of  his  country,"  to  use  all  clemency  and  ten- 
derness toward  his  subjects.  The  prince  even  went  so  far  as  to 
hint  that  thus  Henry  might,  in  time,  reach  the  Imperial  dignity 
to  which  his  ancestors  and  predecessors  had  so  long  aspired.' 
To  these  advocates  of  peace  must  be  added  Henry's  late  host, 
the  Duke  of  Savoy,  who  was  one  of  the  most  urgent."  Is  or  did 
Queen  Elizabeth,  slowly  as  she  was  apt  to  move  in  such  matters, 
refi-ain  from  giving  the  young  king  some  good  advice.  She 
sent  Lord  Xorth  on  a  special  embassy  to  influence  Henry  to 

pacific  and  tolerant  measures.    "  If  he  sa}- " — so  ran 

Special  in-  .  .  n  •    •  i 

structionsof   jS oi'tli  s  lustructioiis —  it  IS  iiot  honoraolc  tor  princes 

Lord  North.  .  .  ,       ,     .         ,  .  .      , .  . 

to  capitulate  with  their  subjects,  or  permit  diversity 
of  religion,  or  that  large  offers  have  been  made  to  '  them  of  the 
religion '  which  they  refuse  to  accept,  he  is  to  declare  to  him 
how  much  more  honorable  it  would  be  for  him  to  remit  part  of 
that  worldly  respect  of  honor  for  the  benefit  of  his  realm  and  of 
all  Christendom,  and  to  think  that  the  true  honor  of  a  loving 
prince  is  to  recover  his  subjects  rather  by  mildness  than  the 
sword."  And  the  queen  not  only  fortified  her  position  by  his- 
torical examples,  but  boldly  combated  prevailing  misapprehen- 
sions by  asserting  "  that  the  permission  of  diversity  of  religion  ^ 
leads  not  to  the  unquietness  that  is  pretended."  She  even  de- 
fended the  Huguenots  from  the  charge  of  unreasonable  suspi- 
cion, and  frankly  told  Henry  that  "  why  they  of  the  religion 

deux  moyens  de  bien  composer  toutes  choses,  S(^avoir  une  liberty  d'exercice  de 
la  religion  generalement  partout,  et  apres  qu'on  sera  retire,  chacun  chez  soy, 
une  convocation  d'Estatz  pour  entendre  les  plaintes  des  subjects  et  les  y  pour- 
voir."  La  Huguerye  to  tbe  Prince  of  Orange,  May,  1574,  Groeu  van  Prinsterer, 
Archives  de  la  maison  d'Orange-Nassau,  Supplement,  165*. 

'  Instruction  accompanying  a  letter  of  the  Prince  of  Orange  to  Henry  III., 
September  27,  1574,  Groeu  van  Prinsterer,  v.  61. 

-  "The  Duke  of  Savoy  is  a  great  furtherer  of  the  peace,  and  the  queen  mother 
and  her  chancellor  the  greatest  persuaders  to  war. ''  Dr.  Dale  to  Smith  and 
Walsingham,  September  11,  1574,  State  Paper  Office. 


28 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE. 


Ch.  I. 


refuse  without  greater  assurance  sucli  offers  as  he  made  to  them, 
she  takes  to  proceed  for  that  the  edicts  of  the  late  king  were 
not  as  well  observed  as  was  his  intention."  '  It  was  an  excellent 
state  paper.  Dr.  Dale  declared  to  Walsingham  that  he  never 
had  seen  a  thing  better  done  in  his  life  than  his  penning  of 
Lord  Xortli's  instructions ;  significantly  adding  that,  "  if  it 
would  please  the  queen  to  work  somewhat  in  deeds  withal,  it 
might  work  some  good  effect."  ' 

Unfortunately,  these  were  not  Henry's  only  counsellors. 
Others  beset  his  ears  who  were  all  for  war ;  and  these  had 
both  greater  facilities  for  reaching  him,  and  sufficiently  specious 
Intolerant  rcasous  to  allege.  If  the  papal  legate  urged  the  old 
i>ope'lnd°the  arguments  against  an^-  compacts  made  with  heretics, 
queen  mother,  reminding  Ilcnrv  of  the  sanguinarj'  precepts  so  often 
reiterated  by  Pius  the  Fifth,  there  were  plenty  besides  to  call 
his  attention  to  the  dishonor  which,  they  said,  would  attach  to 
a  peace  conceded  by  a  sovereign  to  subjects  in  rebellion.  Before 
Henry  reached  Lyons,  it  was  known  by  well-informed  diploma- 
tists that  Catharine  de'  Medici  and  Chancellor  Birague,  above 
all,  were  leaving  no  stone  unturned  to  prevent  the  conclusion 
of  peace  with  the  Huguenots  and  Politiques.  Xor  were  their 
motives  obscure.  The  chancellor,  as  the  author  of  the  arrests 
of  the  marshals,  had  good  reason  to  fear  that,  with  the  end  of 
the  war  and  the  restoration  of  the  Montmorencies  to  power, 
would  come  his  own  disgrace  and  fall.  The  queen  mother, 
alarmed  for  her  own  ascendency,  had  again  resigned  herself  to 
the  direction  of  the  Cardinal  of  Lorraine.  It  is  quite  true  that 
the  prelate  avoided  all  parade  of  his  influence,  and  employed 
the  chancellor  as  the  instrument  of  accomplishing  his  designs  ; 
but  the  latter  never  ventured  to  take  a  step  without  consulting 
him.  As  for  Catharine,  "  she  trusted  the  cardinal  more  than 
she  trusted  herself,"  and  made  little  account  of  the  general  dis- 
satisfaction created  by  her  course.  It  was  only  a  few  days  after 
the  meeting  of  mother  and  son  that  the  Florentine  envoy  wrote 
home  that  Henry  professed  to  be  desirous  of  doing  everytliing 

'  lustructious  to  Lord  North,  in  special  embassage  to  the  French  king,  Oc- 
tober 5,  1574,  State  Paper  Office. 

■'  Dr.  Dale  to  Walsingham,  November  3,  1574,  State  Paper  Office. 


1574. 


ACCESSION  OF  HENRY  OF  VALOIS. 


29 


that  Catharine  might  want.  But  to  this  statement  lie  added 
another  not  less  significant,  which  may  serve  to  throw  light  on 
much  of  this  unhappy  king's  subsequent  mistakes  and  errors. 
"  If  he  were  disposed  to  do  otherwise,  I  know  not  whither  he 
could  turn  for  counsel."  ' 

An  intelligent  agent  of  Queen  Elizabeth  gave  much  the 
same  account.  The  queen  mother's  authority  he  declared  to 
be  as  ample  as  ever.  Henry's  travels  had  added  little  to  his 
knowledge,  and,  though  more  in  show  and  countenance  "  than 
liis  late  brother,  he  was  in  reality  "far  more  simple"  than 
Charles.  The  greatest  matters  of  state  were  "  carried  away  " 
by  Catharine  and  Chancellor  Birague,  with  Chiverny  support- 
ing whatever  they  chose  to  agree  upon.  The  rest  of  the  coun- 
cil, indeed,  advocated  peace,  but  these  three  were  urgent  for 
war,  so  that  the  poor  king  "  floated  between  the  storm  and  the 
rock."  Though  appalled  by  the  present  misery  of  himself  and 
of  his  country,  the  queen  mother's  "  pestiferous "  advice  had 
cast  a  spell  over  him.^ 

Catharine  had  not  waited  for  Henry's  arrival  to  begin  to 
exert  over  him  that  nefarious  influence  of  which  it  seemed 
catharine-s  f^tcd  that  cacli  of  licr  SOUS  successively  should  be  the 
influence.  victim.  Fearful  of  the  effect  of  the  tolerant  counsels 
he  had  received  from  foreign  princes,  alarmed  at  the  influence 
which  Pibrac  and  other  advocates  of  toleration  among  the 
French  themselves  were  acquiring,  apprehensive  of  a  mutation 
amounting  to  little  less  than  a  revolution  should  her  son  return 
and  i-epudiate  the  policy  pursued  by  his  mother  during  the  re- 
gency, Catharine  had  despatched  to  Turin,  Chiverny,  Yille- 
quier,  and  others,  agents  well  adapted  to  the  work  of  prejudic- 
ing Henry's  mind  against  the  best  class  of  his  subjects.'  And 
the  task  imposed  upon  them  was  not  a  difficult  one.  Henry 
had  been  nurtured  in  hatred  and  jealousy  of  the  Montmorencies 
and  of  their  cousins  the  Chatillous.    He  had  been  a  boon  com- 


'  See  the  important  letters  of  Alamanni  to  the  Grand  Duke,  September  6, 
and  September  18,  1574,  Negociations  avec  la  Toscaue,  iv.  18,  25. 

-  Thomas  Wilkes  to  Walsingham,  Lyons,  November  4,  1547,  State  Paper 
Office. 

2  De  Thou,  V.  (book  58)  98,  99. 


30 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.         Ch.  1 


panion  of  Heniy  of  Guise.  True,  all  three  of  the  Chatillons — 
the  married  cardinal,  the  indomitable  admiral,  and  the  "  fear- 
less knight"- — were  in  their  graves.  But  the  Montmorencies 
still  lived.  What  Henry  of  Guise — the  former  comrade  of 
Anjou's  mad  antics — was  to  prove  himself  to  be,  did  not  yet 
appear.  A  year's  absence  from  France  had  not  lifted  Henry 
of  Valois  above  the  petty  factions  of  the  court.  Besides,  when 
his  very  mother  had  forgotten  the  sound  advice  she  had  given 
him  only  a  few  weeks  before,  was  it  astonishing  that  his  maj- 
esty should  take  sides  in  a  quarrel  of  which  he  ought  to  have 
been  content  to  be  the  umpire  ?  On  the  morrow  of  that  Sun- 
day on  which  his  brother  died,  Catharine  had  written  him,  as 
we  have  seen,  a  letter  full  of  maternal  solicitude,  and  had 
begged  him  not  to  permit  himself  to  be  led  by  the  passions  of 
his  servants.  A  few  short  weeks  had  passed,  and  the  mother 
was  advocating  the  very  partisanship  which  she  had  previously 
condemned.  Damville,  ruler  with  almost  viceregal  powers  of 
one  of  the  fairest  parts  of  the  kingdom,  had  been  urged  to 
visit  the  king  and  by  personal  interview  to  seal  the  much  de- 
sired pacification.'  The  marshal  was  not  desirous  of  war,  least 
of  all  of  a  war  with  the  Huguenots  for  allies ;  and,  in 
interview  at    the  liope  of  securing  the  release  of  his  elder  brother, 

Turin.  I  »  ' 

he  consented  to  go  to  meet  Henry  at  Turin.  Before 
leaving  Languedoc  he  did,  indeed,  use  ordinary  prudence  by 
committing  the  reins  of  government  to  a  faithful  follower  of 
his  house,  in  preference  to  Joyeuse,  a  man  of  more  than  doubt- 
ful loyalty,  whom  the  court  had  suggested  as  a  proper  depos- 
itory of  the  trust.  He  had  been  equally  careful  to  travel  only 
by  the  sure  roads,  in  order  to  avoid  the  possible  pitfalls  pre- 
pared by  his  enemies.  But  his  reception  by  the  king,  when  at 
last  he  reached  his  destination,  scarcely  rewarded  him  for  the 
pains  he  had  taken.  While  Henry  professed  an  earnest  desire 
for  peace,  he  declared  that  it  was  below  his  dignity  to  treat  re- 
specting it  with  his  own  subjects;  and  his  demeanor  was  in  all 
respects  so  unsatisfactory,  if  not  positively  unfriendly,  that  the 

'  See  Damville's  message,  received  by  Henry  at  Ferrara,  and  Henry's  flatter- 
ing reply  conveying  an  invitation,  as  well  as  Duke  Emmanuel  Pliilibert's  pledge 
of  safety,  in  Jean  de  Serres,  v.  fol.  25. 


1574.  ACCESSION  OF  HENRY  OF  VALOIS.  31 


marshal  deemed  it  best  to  make  a  hasty  retreat  to  his  own  gov- 
ernment. It  was  fortunate  for  him,  some  said,  that  he  discov- 
ered the  preparations  made  to  attack  him  on  his  return  through 
the  Alps,  and  was  able  to  find  a  vessel  sailing  directly  to  a 
port  of  Languedoc'  The  unsuccessful  result  of  his  visit  to 
court  decided  the  position  of  Damville.  He  threw  in  his  lot 
with  the  Protestants,  and  signed  the  articles  of  agreement. 

Still  the  court  had  not  committed  itself  irrevocably  to  the 
policy  of  war.  The  question  was  first  definitely  submitted  for 
The  royal  discussiou  iu  the  royal  council  and  in  the  king's  own 
erates'on''''''"  pi'escnce,  upou  the  arrival  of  Henry  at  Lyons.  But 
peace  or  war.  ^j^g  deliberation  was  rather  for  show  than  for  real 
utility.  Two  champions  had  been  selected,  and  to  them  the 
opportunity  to  speak  was  restricted.  Paul  de  Foix  was  the 
spokesman  for  peace  and  toleration — Paul  de  Foix,  said  to  be 
a  scion  of  the  noble  house  that  once  exercised  sway  over  broad 
territories  at  the  foot  of  the  Pyrenees,  and  enjoying  more  sub- 
stantial claims  to  consideration  because  he  had  been  one  of  the 
bold  advocates  of  milder  measures  in  the  famous  "  Mercuriale  " 
of  1559,  and  because  since  then  he  had  consistently  followed  the 
counsels  of  Chancellor  Michel  de  THospital.'  His  carefully 
Paul  de  Foil's  prepared  argument  was  worthy  of  its  author  and  of 
plea  for  peace,  ^j^^  occasiou.  By  Unanswerable  proofs  he  showed 
that  a  civil  war — the  most  disastrous  of  all  wars — was  neither 
desirable  nor  necessary  ;  that  its  success  was  moi"e  than  doubt- 
ful. "  Granting,"  said  he,  "that  the  Huguenots  lack  money, 
the  sinews  of  war,  how  faithfully  and  well  have  they  handled 
the  little  they  have  hitherto  had.  Besides,  they  have  allies 
that  will  not  desert  them,  and,  as  for  themselves,  they  spare 
neither  life  nor  property.  They  are  men  inured  to  the  hard- 
ships of  war,  and  bound  together  by  the  indissoluble  chain  of 
necessity.  Among  them  reign  order  and  discipline  ;  licence 
and  debauchery  are  unknown.  In  the  armies  of  the  king,  on 
the  contrary,  what  jealousy,  what  avarice,  what  ambition,  what 
disunion  prevail !  Even  the  loss  of  a  sanguinary  battle,  of  two 
or  three  sanguinary  battles,  will  not  dishearten  the  Huguenots. 

'  Jean  de  Serres,  v.  fols.  26,  27,  28;  De  Thou,  ubi  supra. 

'  See  his  eulogy  in  the  Memoires  de  la  vie  de  De  Thou,  liv.  i.  pp.  13-15. 


32 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE. 


Ch.  L 


Experience  has  taught  that  they  are  less  sensible  to  the  most 
cruel  torture,  to  the  most  appalling  dangers,  than  to  the  fear  of 
the  loss  of  liberty  of  conscience  and  the  dread  of  incurring;  the 
contempt  of  their  fellow-believers.  Such  a  faction  has  never 
been  so  thoroughly  extinguished  but  that  from  the  ashes  of 
those  that  were  driven  into  banishment  or  butchered  a  new 
conflagration  has  arisen  more  terrible  than  the  first.  After  all, 
what  have  the  Protestants  always  demanded  ?  Liberty  of  con- 
science. That  was  first  provided  for  by  the  Edict  of  January, 
an  edict  too  soon  violated  by  an  incident  which,  far  irom  recall- 
ing to  memory,  I  would  that  I  could  bury  in  eternal  oblivion. 
Thence  arose,  not  in  a  few  provinces,  but  throughout  the  entire 
state  and  in  every  family,  a  most  cruel  and  disastrous  war." 
In  glowing  terms  the  orator  proceeded  to  depict  the  horrors  of 
which  France  had  for  ten  or  twelve  years  been  the  victim,  hor- 
rors that  culminated  in  a  massacre  on  St.  Bartholomew's  day, 
which  he  preferred  to  regard  as  rather  the  result  of  necessity 
or  chance  than  of  premeditated  design,  lie  begged  the  king 
to  wait  for  the  coming  of  the  deputies  sent  by  the  Protestants, 
and  daily  expected,  and  Avhen  they  should  have  arrived  to  grant 
them  those  reasonable  concessions  with  which  they  would  be 
satisfied.  "  May  your  prudence,  Sire,  guard  you  against  stum- 
bling on  the  first  step  you  take  in  ascending  the  throne  of  your 
ancestors." 

To  this  harangue  the  champion  of  war  made  a  brief  and 
brutal  reply.  Affecting  to  disdain  any  attempt  to  refute  the 
viiiequier's  argumcuts  brought  forward  by  his  opponent — he  was 
reply.  barrister,  he  said,  but  a  man  nurtured  in  arms, 

and  knew  better  how  to  act  than  how  to  speak — Yillequier 
loudly  asserted  that  to  establish  peace  with  heretics  Avas  to 
declare  war  with  God,  and  to  pronounce  rebels  those  who  had 
devoted  their  lives  and  means  to  so  holy  a  war.  The  conflict 
had  been  well  begun ;  a  single  blow  would  suffice  to  prostrate 
the  enemy.  Instead  of  waiting  for  the  deputies  to  arrive,  he 
counselled  instant  action.  He  bade  Henry  gather  the  laurels 
of  which  an  untimely  death  had  robbed  his  brother  Charles, 
and,  after  two  crowns  so  legitimatelj'  obtained,  to  earn  the  third 
crown  now  offered  to  him,  by  giving  peace  to  the  Church  through 


1574. 


ACCESSION  OF  HENRY  OF  VALOIS. 


33 


the  overthrow  of  the  enemies  of  God.  "  Either  your  Majesty," 
said  lie,  "  must  perish,  witli  the  entire  State,  or  the  Protestants 
must  be  utterly  destroyed." 

Rene  de  Yillequier  was  as  little  a  match  for  Paul  de  Foix  in 
argument  as  in  purity  of  morals,  but  the  easy  composure  with 
which  he  had  borne  himself,  and  the  sneer  with  whicli  he  treated 
the  emotion  betrayed  by  his  predecessor,  showed  plainly  enough 
that  he  understood  full  well  that  the  king  had  already  made  up 
his  mind.  And,  in  truth,  no  sooner  had  Yillequier  ended,  than 
Henry  and  his  mother  rose  without  giving  any  other  member 
of  the  council  an  opportunity  to  express  his  sentiments.  The 
next  day  the  council  was  again  assembled,  but  only  to  hear 
the  announcement  of  the  absurd  determination  which 
solves  to  pre-  Henry  had  been  persuaded  to  adopt.  He  would  lis- 
''"^  '  '  ten  to  the  propositions  of  the  Protestant  delegates, 
should  they  come,  but  meantime  he  would  prepare  for  war  and 
prosecute  it  with  vigor.' 

After  this  there  was  evidently  little  prospect  of  peace.  Henry, 
indeed,  gave  audience  to  the  envoys  of  the  elector  palatine  and 
otlier  German  princes  whom  Conde  had  interested  in  the  cause 
of  his  fellow  Huguenots,  and  heard  their  intercessions  that  the 
Protestants  should  have  permission  to  exercise  their  religion  and 
should  have  their  property  and  dignities  restored  to  them.  But 
he  replied  that  as  his  predecessors  had  always  maintained  the 
name  and  character  of  "  Very  Christian,"  he  intended  to  live 
and  die  in  the  Catholic,  Apostolic,  and  Roman  religion,  which 

'  I  follow  the  detailed  account  given  by  De  Tliou,  v.  10.5-115.  Although 
Ranke  seems  to  question  whether  any  such  consultation  was  lield  (Civil  Wars 
and  Monarchy  in  France,  Amer.  ed.,  28!)),  I  deem  the  authority  of  De  Thou 
conclusive.  The  future  historian,  then  a  young  man,  had  just  returned  from 
an  extensive  and  very  instructive  journey  through  Italy,  in  the  suite  of  the  vet- 
eran jurist  and  diplomatist,  Foix,  with  whom  lie  was  in  the  most  intimate  rela- 
tions. A  very  full  account  of  the  trip  is  given  in  the  Memoires  de  la  vie  de  De 
Thou,  liv.  i.,  pp.  14-27.  In  this  work,  written,  it  is  well  known,  by  De  Thou 
himself,  he  explicitly  states  (p.  27)  that  he  was  at  court  in  Lyons  when  the  dis- 
cussion took  place.  "II  [De  Thou]  y  resta  quelque  tems  pour  apprendre  la 
resolution  de  la  cour.  On  y  delibera  d'abord  de  la  guerre  centre  les  Protes- 
tans.  De  Foix,  dans  le  Conseil,  eut  une  dispute  avec  Yillequier  sur  ce  sujet; 
mais  en  secret  cette  guerre  etoit  rosolue.  De  Thou  disoit  avoir  vu  de  Foix  en 
soupirer  de  regret,"  etc. 
Vol.  I.— 3 


34 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OP  NAVARRE. 


Ch.  I. 


he  expected  to  be  accepted  by  all  his  subjects.  He  would, 
however,  pardon  the  sins  of  the  past,  should  the  Huguenots 
restore  to  him  the  arms  and  the  cities  which  they  had  ap- 
propriated, and  return  to  the  religion  of  the  state  ;  or,  should 
they  prefer  so  to  do,  he  would  freely  permit  them  to  leave 
the  kingdom,  taking  their  goods  with  them,  and  would  pro- 
vide them  with  letters  to  secure  their  safety.'  To  the  Hu- 
guenots themselves  that  came  from  Provence  and  Dauphiny 
Henry  gave  a  sharp  answer,  telling  them  that  he  would  not 
speak  of  peace  until  his  cities  and  castles  should  have  been  re- 
stored to  his  hands." 

The  conclusions  thus  reached  were  set  forth  in  official  form. 
By  letters  patent  of  the  tenth  of  September,  Henry  announced 


■  Lestoile,  under  date  of  September  10,  1574,  i.  42.  The  documents  pub- 
lished by  Kluckhohn  are  of  great  interest.  Henry,  it  appears,  had  written  to  the 
elector  palatine  from  Cracow,  soliciting  his  good  offices  in  the  discovery  of  the 
means  of  pacifying  France  (Letters  of  June  15,  in  Brief e  Friedrich  des  From- 
men,  ii.  G94,  G95),  and  Frederick  the  Pious  had  accordingly  despatched  Dr. 
Weyer.  The  envoy  made  his  way  to  Paris,  but  failed  to  obtain  any  satisfac- 
tion as  to  the  plans  of  tlie  government  from  the  queen  mother,  who  urged  him 
to  see  the  new  king  liimself.  Of  the  results  of  his  interviews  with  the  latter, 
whom  he  met  coming  from  Turin  to  Lyons,  Dr.  Weyer  has  left  us  a  full  rela- 
tion. (Published  by  Kluckhohn  in  his  "  Zwei  pfalzische  Gesandtschaftsberiche 
iiber  den  franzosichen  Hof  und  die  Hugenotten,"  Abhandlungen  der  kon. 
bayer.  Akad.  der  Wissenschaften,  xi.  Bd.  ii.  Abth. ,  Munich,  1870.)  Henry  did 
indeed  declare  to  the  ambassador  that  he  did  not  intend  to  be  the  '  hangman  ' 
of  his  subjects  ("  Ich  will  meiner  underthonen  henker  nichtsein"),  but  he 
gave  no  assurances  of  toleration  to  be  extended  to  the  Huguenots.  He  even 
showed  his  anno}-ance  at  the  elector's  interference  in  their  behalf  in  a  letter 
to  Frederick,  of  October  26  (Brief e,  etc.,  ii.  727,  728).  This  drew  forth  a  noble 
reply  from  the  palatine  (November  27,  ibid.,  ii.  760-762).  In  the  course  of  it  he 
reminded  Henry  that  in  the  promise  of  liberty  of  conscience  which  he  made 
to  the  Protestants  lie  granted  them  nothing  at  all,  since  he  had  no  power  over 
the  souls  of  men,  that  power  being  reserved  by  God  for  Himself  alone  :  while, 
as  to  the  permission  to  retire  to  their  houses  and  enjoy  their  temporal  goods, 
the  Huguenots  derived  no  security  therefrom,  inasmuch  as,  not  to  .speak  of 
past  massacres,  even  at  the  present  moment  the  same  humors  and  desires  en- 
tertained by  the  royal  council  and  the  royal  governors  and  officers,  in  every 
province  and  place,  held  them  in  fear  and  distrust.  Besides,  how  could  they 
subsist  without  worship  of  God,  without  baptism,  without  the  sacrament  of  the 
Lord's  Supper,  without  burial,  without  discipline  ? 

'  Alamanni  to  the  Grand  Duke,  September  13,  1574,  Negociations  avec  la 
Toscane,  iv.  24. 


1574. 


ACCESSION  OF  HENRY  OP  VALOIS. 


35 


his  "  paternal "  purpose  to  pardon  all  his  subjects  who  had 
borne  arms  against  the  will  of  their  sovereign,  or  who,  in  disobe- 
.  , ,  ,    dience  to  his  commands,  had  left  the  kingdom.  The 

Olficml  decla-  '  o 

ration.  single  condition  was  that  they  should  lay  down 
their  arms  and  return  and  live  peaceably  in  their  homes.  Not 
a  word  was  said  about  liberty  of  conscience  or  religious  rights. 
It  was  not  until  about  a  month  later  (the  thirteenth  of  Oc- 
tober), that,  finding  that  his  first  assurances  had  produced 
little  effect,  Henry  wrote  another  letter,  in  which  he  promised 
the  returning  Huguenots  that  their  consciences  and  religion 
should  not  be  interfered  with.  Still  there  was  no  hint  of  the 
toleration  of  their  worship,  or  of  the  convocation  of  a  national 
council,  or  of  tlie  states  general,  for  which  they  had  called.'  It 
was  clear  that  Henry  was  determined  upon  a  resort  to  the 
arbitrament  of  war.  Catharine  had  persuaded  herself  and  him 
that  the  campaign  would  be  easy,  short,  and  decisive.' 

It  cannot  be  said  that  the  Huguenots  were  unprepared  for 
the  issue.  In  Dauphiny  and  Vivarais  they  had  not  suspended 
Huguenot  op-  their  military  operations.  Insignificant  towns  were 
erations.  gmall  garrisous  at  fearful  odds.    Le  Pouzin, 

little  more  than  a  village,  but  advantageously  situated  on  the 
western  bank  of  the  Rhone,''  was  bravely  defended  for  ten  days 
against  an  army  of  twelve,  or,  as  others  assert,  of  eighteen 
thousand  men — French,  Swiss,  Germans,  and  Piedmontese — 
abundantly  furnished  with  artillery,  according  to  the  ideas  of 
the  times,  and  fighting  under  the  colors  of  the  Prince  Dauphin. 
The  small  Huguenot  garrison  first  repulsed  a  general  assault  so 
decisively  that  all  hope  of  taking  the  place  save  by  the  slower 
methods  of  a  siege  was  abandoned ;  and  when  no  longer  able 
to  maintain  itself  in  the  shattered  walls  against  the  enemy,  ef- 


'  Jean  de  Serres,  v.  fols.  29,  32  ;  Recueil  des  choses  m6morables,  521,  522 ; 
De  Thou,  V.  119. 

Jean  de  Serres,  v.  fol.  28. 

^  "The  Protestants  have  fortified  themselves  in  Livron,  a  strong  place  on 
the  Rhone,  and  in  Pouzin,  upon  the  other  side  of  the  river,  inaccessible  but 
in  one  place,  and  that  not  above  four  men  in  front.  They  in  Dauphiny  have 
fortified  themselves  in  tlie  mountains  very  strongly."  Dr.  Dale  to  Smith  and 
Walsiiigham,  Lyons,  September  29,  1574.    State  Paper  Office. 


36 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.         Ch.  L 


fected  a  safe  retreat  by  night  to  the  neighboring  city  of  Privas.' 
Brave  Montbrun,  who  was  in  command,  received  calmly,  almost 
defiantly,  the  king's  summons  to  lay  down  his  arms  and  retire 
to  his  home,  if  he  wished  to  enjoy  the  benefits  of  the  royal 
grace.  He  boldly  vindicated  the  justice  of  his  cause,  and  ex- 
pressed his  confident  hope  that  God  would  not  desert  His  own 
servants.  '"Whatever  result,  however,  may  follow,"  he  added, 
"we  shall  put  forth  every  endeavor,  God  willinor, 

Montbrun's  .  -  '  °' 

conrageous    that  the  perfidious  and  degenerate  Italians  who  abuse 

answer.  ,  ,  ,  •      i       t  t 

the  royal  and  the  rrench  name  may  in  deed  acknowl- 
edge that  they  have  to  do  with  true  Frenchmen,  who  regard  a 
glorious  death  as  the  most  excellent  recompense  of  their  faith 
and  valor."  ^ 

The  final  arrangements  for  an  offensive  and  defensive  al- 
liance with  Marshal  Damville  were  effected  not  long  after.  In 
answer  to  a  summons  of  the  latter,  the  States  of  Languedoc 
convened  in  Montpellier,  on  the  sixth  of  Xovember.  Of  the 
twenty-three  districts  into  which  the  extensive  province  was 
divided,  the  greater  number  were  represented  by  Protestants, 
but  not  a  few  Poman  Catholics  were  also  there.  Toulouse, 
Union  with  however,  sent  no  delegates.  The  union  being  formed, 
Dam\iue.  Marshal  Damville  was  recognized  as  roval  governor, 
and  it  was  resolved,  under  his  leadership,  to  make  common 
cause  against  a  common  foe.  In  the  long  and  not  inappropriate 
declaration  which  the  marshal  thereupon  published,  only  a 
single  sentiment  deserves  especial  notice,  as  indicative  of  the 
world's  progress  toward  the  recognition  of  the  rights  of  man — 

Religious  controversy  cannot  be  settled  by  arms,  but  by  a  fi'ee 
council,  be  it  general  or  national.'' '  It  was  well  understood  by 
the  whole  nation  that  Damville  repudiated  the  name  of  reli- 


'  De  Thou,  V.  110,  gives  a  brief,  Jean  de  Series,  v.  fols.  29-31,  a  much 
more  circumstantial  account  of  this  brilliant  affair,  which  lasted  from  the  oth 
to  the  15th  of  October. 

'  Jean  de  Serres,  v.  fol.  33. 

^  '•  Perspiciens  controversiam  religionis  non  armis  sed  libero  Concilio,  sive 
generali  sive  nationali,  compoui  posse."  Jean  de  Serres,  v.  fols.  34-36.  Of 
course,  Damville,  as  a  Montmorency,  made  much  of  the  fact  that  he  was 
"  vere  et  genuine  Callus,  et  e  primis  Christianis  et  baronibus  Francis."' 


1574. 


ACCESSION  OF  HENRY  OP  VALOIS. 


37 


gion,  and  styled  liimself  "  Liberator  of  the  Commonwealth  ; " 
or,  as  others  said,  "  Reformer  of  the  King's  Comicil."  '  Yet, 
for  a  time,  the  politic  marshal  seemed  himself  to  have  under- 
gone a  moral  reformation  which,  he  was  acute  enough  to  per- 
ceive, brought  him  into  closer  sympathy  with  the  religious 
party  whose  interests  he  espoused." 

It  was  the  middle  of  Isovember  when  the  king,  instead  of 
pressing  on  toward  the  capital  whither  the  great  interests  of 
his  kingdom  called  him,  again  turned  southward  to 

Henry  at  »  '  O 

Avignon.  spcud  the  scasou  of  Advent  in  the  city  of  Avignon. 
The  finances  of  his  state  were  in  extreme  confusion,  the  ex- 
chequer was  empty,  the  very  pages  of  the  king,  it  was  said,  were 
driven  to  tlie  necessity  of  pawning  their  cloaks  to  get  food,  and, 
but  for  a  timely  advance  of  five  thousand  francs  which  she 
obtained  from  a  royal  officer  of  the  treasury,  Catharine  her- 
self could  not  have  provided  for  the  wants  of  her  own  maids 
of  honor.^  Jsone  the  less,  however,  did  Henry  and  his  court 
dismiss  the  wearisome  consideration  of  the  means  of  restor- 
ing prosperity  to  France,  that  they  might  engage  in  a  form 
of  devotion  whose  absurdity  would  create  amusement  did 
not  its  puerility  awaken  disgust.  This  most  inconstant  and 
profligate  of  princes  was  destined,  at  various  stages  of  his  reign, 
to  hold  forth  hopes  of  a  personal  reformation  of  morals,  only 
to  disappoint  his  subjects  by  relapses  into  the  most  shameless 
debauchery.  One  of  these  spasmodic  and  short-lived  changes 
was  witnessed  about  this  time.  "  At  his  being  at  Avignon," 
quaintly  writes  a  correspondent  of  Lord  Burleigh,  "  certain 
Jesuits  came  unto  him,  and  persuaded  him  to  leave  that  loose 
life  of  his,  and  to  forsake  such  dames  as  he  brought  with  him 
out  of  Venice,  otherwise  God  would  not  prosper  hijn.  And 
hereupon  he,  being  touched,  hath  confessed  his  sinful  life  to 


'  Alamanni  to  the  Grand  Duke,  Lyons,  November  9,  1574,  Negociations 

avec  la  Toscane,  iv.  29. 

.  "Inito  foedere,  ipse  quidem  quasi  sempiternum  voluptati  iiidixisset  bel- 
lum,  mulierculas  amandat,  severe  autem  interdicit  suis  ue  secum  habeant 
scorta,  ne  cui  impuue  liceat  blasphemare,"  etc.  Jeau  de  Serres,  v.  fol. 
37. 

Lestoile,  i.  47. 


38 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE. 


Ch.  L 


those  Jesuits,  with  f  nil  purpose  to  live  better,  and  so  hath  given 
himself  to  marry.'" ' 

But  Henry's  improvement  in  external  morality  was  less  strik- 
ing and  more  transient  than  his  newly  conceived  passion  for  the 
Flagellants.  The  "  Flagellants  "  of  the  thirteenth,  fourteenth, 
and  fifteenth  centuries,  had  been  in  turn  held  up  foj-  popular 
admiration  by  the  clergy,  anathematized  by  papal  authority, 
and  committed  to  the  flames  by  the  Inquisition.  The  supersti- 
tion for  which  they  had  received  such  opposite  treatment  was 
subsequently  discovered  to  be  a  profitable  delusion,  and  under 
the  name  of  "  Penitents  "  the  new  fiagellants  were  associated, 
with  the  Church's  sanction,  in  confraternities  which  attracted, 
by  reason  of  their  singularity,  not  a  little  attention  and  surprise. 
It  was  in  the  papal  city  of  Avignon  that  the  Penitents  first 
made  their  appearance  on  French  soil.  Clothed  in  long  gowns 
reaching  from  head  to  foot,  with  no  part  of  the  face  visible  save 
the  eyes,  they  pai-aded  the  streets,  sometimes  by  day  but  more 
frequently  by  night,  chanting  lustily  the  mournful  verses  of  the 
"  Miserere."  To  express  the  idea  of  sorrow  for  sin  more  forcibly, 
each  penitent  was  provided  with  a  whip  well  knotted  or  fur- 
nished with  metal  points,  by  means  of  which  he  lashed  the  ex- 
posed back  and  shoulders  of  the  brother  whom  he  followed.  It 
was  a  weird  but  loathsome  spectacle,  from  which  sensible  men 
turned  away  with  mingled  shame  and  indignation.  But  Henry 
He  joins  the  Yalois  was  both  interested  and  pleased.  The 
Flagellants,  novcl  practicc  might  prove  a  pleasant  diversion,  and 
if  it  could  atone  for  moral  delinquencies,  the  pain  endured 
would  be  a  cheap  price  to  pay  for  the  purchase  of  absolution. 
Was  it  not  likely  that  the  whip,  in  the  hands  of  courtiers, 
would  be  more  tolerable  than  the  scourge  of  his  own  con- 
science ?  However  this  may  be,  the  frivolous  monarch  no 
sooner  saw  the  performance  than  he  expressed  a  desire  to  take 
part  in  it.  His  example  was  at  once  followed  by  the  courtiers. 
The  king  having  become  a  member  of  that  part  of  the  confra- 
ternity which  clothed  itself  in  white — the  "  Blancs  Battus  " — ■ 


'  Thomas  Wylson  to  Lord  Burleigh,  February  14,  1575  ;  Wright,  Queen 
Elizabeth  and  her  Times,  ii.  5. 


1574. 


ACCESSION  OF  HENRY  OF  VALOIS. 


39 


Catharine  made  herself  the  patron  of  the  "  black  penitents," 
and  the  Cardinal  of  Armagnac  joined  the  "blue."  It  was  not 
long  before  every  seigneur  or  gentilhomme  of  the  court  was 
enrolled  in  one  of  the  confraternities,  whose  cause  he  espoused 
with  an  ardor  that  would  have  done  no  discredit  to  the  parti- 
sans of  the  factions  of  the  circus  in  the  imperial  times  of 
Rome  or  Constantinople.' 

To  one  person  the  silly  farce  proved  of  tragic  importance.  Car- 
dinal Charles,  of  Lorraine,  had  the  imprudence  to  take  a  prom- 
inent part  in  the  show,  walking  with  bare,  or  nearly 
cardinairf"  bare  fect  through  the  cold  and  wintry  streets.  The 
Lorraine.  exposure  brought  on  a  fever  to  which  he  soon  suc- 
cumbed.* Whether  the  prelate  died  iu  the  odor  of  sanctity, 
having  discoursed,  during  his  last  hours,  most  learnedly  and 
piously  respecting  religion — as  his  friends  and  adherents  gave 
out — or  passed  away  from  the  scene  of  his  restless  and  nefarious 
activity  after  having  spent  whole  days  and  nights,  without  sleep 
and  uttering  furious  outcries — as  his  enemies  asserted  with  equal 
positiveness — is  a  point  which  it  is  useless  to  discuss.' 

And  so  this  bustling  actor  passed  off  the  stage  upon  whicli  he 


'  Lesstoile,  i.  47  ;  Recueil  des  clioses  memorables,  533  ;  De  Tliou,  v.  124. 
The  Florentine  envoy  Alamanni,  writing  from  Lyons,  December  14,  1574, 
stands  in  admiration  of  tlie  French  king's  piety:  "fi  entrato  iu  una  com- 
pagnia  di  Battuti,  che  e  iu  Avignoue,  e  va  agli  uffizi  sacri,  vestito  pare  da  Bat- 
tuto,  dando  a  ciascuno  de'  suoi  popoli  un  ottimo  esempio  di  se,  e  monstrandosi 
in  ogni  cosa  sua  religioso  e  molto  cattolico  principe."  Negociations  diploma- 
tiques  avec  la  Toscane,  iv.  33. 

-  If  the  date  December  23,  1574,  as  given  by  Jean  de  Serres,  were  correct. 
Cardinal  Lorraine  would  have  died  on  the  day  of  the  month  upon  wliich  his 
nephew,  Henry  of  Guise,  was  murdered  at  Blois  fourteen  years  later.  But  the 
true  date  was  Sunday,  December  2Gth.  See  Jean  de  Serres,  v.  fols.  45,  46  ; 
Jehan  de  la  Fosse,  Journal  d'un  cure  ligueur,  172;  Lestoile,  etc.,  ubi  supra. 

'Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  ii.  143  ;  Recueil  des  choses  memorables,  535  ;  Languet, 
Epistolae  secretae,  i.  68.  As  if  his  imprudent  exposure  did  not  sufficiently 
account  for  Lorraine's  fatal  illness,  De  Thou,  Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  Olhagaray, 
and  others  discuss  the  absurd  story  of  the  cardinal's  assassination  by  poison,  ad- 
ministered, as  some  said,  in  a  purse  that  was  presented  to  him.  For  a  con- 
temporary account  of  his  furious  death  and  the  fierce  storm  that  raged  through- 
out France  at  the  time  ("  et  I'appelle-t-on  le  vent  du  cardinal  "),  see  Beza  to 
Gabriel  Schlusselberger,  March  25,  1575;  Berne  MS.,  apud  Bulletin  de  la 
Societe  de  I'histoire  du  Prot.  fran^.,  xvi.  (1867),  270. 


40  THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.         Cn.  I. 


had  long  played  a  leading  part.    Was  it  because  the  world  had 
learned  to  know  him  so  thoroughly,  or  because  new  characters  so 
soon  engrossed  the  undivided  attention  of  the  specta- 

His  cti&r&ctcr*  * — 

'  tors,  that  his  removal  produced  less  commotion,  to  use 
the  expressive  words  of  a  contemporary,  than  would  have  fol- 
lowed the  death  of  a  simple  village  curate  ? '  Of  the  person  and 
work  of  Charles  of  Lorraine  there  is  no  need  to  speak  at  length. 
What  he  was  is  more  clearly  shown  in  the  events  of  the  quarter 
of  a  century  preceding  his  death  than  could  be  set  forth  in  any 
portrait,  however  skilfully  delineated.  That  he  was  possessed 
of  eminent  abilities  not  even  his  enemies  could  deny.  If  neither 
profound  nor  learned,  he  was  certainly  shrewd,  polished,  versa- 
tile, and  capable  of  turning  to  his  own  advantage  every  op- 
portunity that  presented  itself  for  acquiring  distinction  or  for 
amassing  wealth.  With  the  help  of  others,  cleverly  appropri- 
ated, he  had  on  more  than  one  occasion  contrived  to  present  a 
good  appearance  both  for  scholarship  and  for  eloquence.  At 
the  Colloquy  of  Poissy  no  orator  upon  the  Roman  Catholic  side 
had  acquitted  himself  so  creditabh' ;  it  had  proved  no  difficult 
thing  to  persuade  the  multitudes  that  had  not  been  present  at 
the  discussion  that  he  had  carried  off  the  palm  in  a  contest  with 
the  elegant  and  courtly  Theodore  Beza  himself.  He  was  the 
most  plausible  man  in  France.  Until  the  refutation  came,  no 
one's  assertions  seemed  more  like  the  very  truth  than  his. 
Presently,  however,  it  was  discovered  that  a  man  could  be  safe 
only  when  he  believed  just  the  opposite  of  what  the  cardinal 
said.'  It  made  no  matter  whither  he  went ;  everywhere  he 
practised  the  same  arts  of  deception.  What  the  Venetian  am- 
bassador Suriano  had  depicted  him  as  being  in  his  earlier  years,' 
he  was  to  the  very  end  of  life.  When  the  news  of  the  Massacre 
of  St.  Bartholomew's  Day  reached  Rome,  the  cardinal,  who  had 
not  had  the  slightest  knowledge  of  the  impending  blow,  and 
had,  of  course,  taken  no  part  either  in  the  plan  or  in  the  execu- 

'  Memoires  de  Henry  III.,  12. 

-  The  tree  is  known  by  its  fruit — remarks  Lestoile — and  in  his  case  the 
fruit  was,  according  to  the  testimony  of  his  own  adherents,  ''que  pour  n'estre 
jamais  trompe  il  faloit  croire  tousjours  tout  le  contraire  de  ce  qu'il  vous 
disoit."    Memoires  de  Henry  III.,  11. 

=  See  Rise  of  the  Huguenots,  i.  270. 


1574.  ACCESSION  OF  HENRY  OF  V ALOIS.  il 

tion,  at  once  began  to  state  that  the  destruction  of  the  Huguenots 
was  mainly  due  to  his  activity.  The  Tuscan  agent  at  the 
French  court  visited  Catharine  de'  Medici  and  informed  her  of 

the  boast.  Catharine  was  indignant  at  the  unwar- 
have  caused   ranted  assumption.    "  The  Cardinal  of  Lorraine," 

she  said,  "  knew  no  more  about  the  massacre  than 
you  did.  But  for  me  nothing  would  have  been  done.  In  con- 
sequence of  certain  advices  I  resolved  upon  it  suddenly-.  Lor- 
raine and  the  admiral  are  on  a  par  for  lies,  inventions,  and 
malignity." '  "  Perhaps  it  would  be  well,  since  he  has  an 
uneasy  brain,  to  recall  him  to  France,"  suggested  Peti-ucci. 
"  Oh,  no  !  "  Catharine  promptly  replied,  "  let  us  leave  him 
there.  If  he  were  here,  he  would  turn  the  world  upside 
down."''  Before  the  interview  was  over  the  queen  and  the 
ambassador  showed  that  they  were  of  one  mind :  this  conduct 
of  the  cardinal  was  hateful  in  the  extreme.  "  At  Rome,"  said 
Petrucci,  "  he  wishes  to  give  the  impression  that,  though  ab- 
sent, he  governs  the  kingdom.  In  France,  he  pretends  that  he 
is  the  greatest  favorite  of  the  pope." ' 

It  is  not  possible  to  determine  the  precise  share  which  be- 
longed to  the  cardinal  in  the  disasters  of  France  during  this 
Hisresponsi-  ovcutful  pcriod.  Other  hands  besides  his  were  em- 
biiity.  brued  in  the  blood  of  the  persecuted  reformers ; 
other  tongues  were  busy  in  defence  of  the  sanguinarj^  doctrine 
that  heresy  must  be  exterminated  by  exterminating  its  profes- 
sors. Many  a  clergyman  advocated  the  use  of  faggot  and  gal- 
lows, with  no  such  attempts  as  Lorraine  more  than  once  put 
forth  to  shield  himself  from  the  imputation  of  inhumanity. 
And  yet,  despite  his  disclaimers  at  Saverne  and  elsewhere,  the 
Huguenots  held  him,  above  all  others,  directly  responsible  for 
that  relentless  system  of  persecution  which  had  its  legiti- 
mate outcome  in  the  civil  wars  that  filled  the  latter  half  of 

'  "Ella  mi  disce  che  non  ne  sapeva  [sc.  Lorraine]  pifi  die  ne  sapessi  io,  e 
che  senza  lei  non  se  ne  faceva  altro  ;  ma  che  per  certi  avvisi  se  ne  risolve 
subito,  e  che  Lorena  e  TAmmiraglio  andavono  al  pari  di  bugie  e  d'invenzioni 
e  di  malignita."  Petrucci  to  Fr.  de'  Medici,  September  29,  1572,  Negociations 
diplomatiques  de  la  France  avec  la  Toscane,  iii.  842. 

'  "  Lasciamolo  pure  star  la,  perche  qua  metterebbe  sotto  sopra  il  mondo." 
Ibid.,  ubi  supra.  ^  Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 


42 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.         Ch.  I. 


the  sixteenth  century.  In  this  estimate  they  were  not  alone. 
It  will  be  remembered  that  a  secretary  of  state,  who  had  often 
met  him  at  the  council-board,  and  who  belonged  to  the  same 
religious  communion,  had  long  since  associated  his  name  with 
that  of  the  bloodthirsty  Diana  of  Poitiers,  exclaiming,  with 
reference  to  these  two  partners  in  infamy:  "It  were  to  be  de- 
sired that  this  woman  and  the  cardinal  had  never  been  born : 
for  they  two  alone  have  been  the  spark  that  kindled  our  mis- 
fortunes." '  Chary  of  his  own  life,  Lorraine  had  been  lavish 
of  the  lives  of  others  ; '  consequently,  few  bewailed  his  loss. 

Such  a  man,  in  an  age  much  given  to  plain-speaking,  was  likely 
to  be  handled  with  uncomplimentary  frankness.  Ten  3-ears  be- 
fore the  cardinal's  death,  the  reformer  Farel  expressed,  in  his 
private  correspondence,  the  estimate  which  his  fellow  Protes- 
tants had  formed  of  their  arch-persecutor.  He  described  him 
as  "  the  man  who  surpasses  all  other  men  on  the  face  of  the 
earth  in  wickedness  and  malice."  And,  more  forcibly  than 
politely,  he  declared  it  to  be  his  opinion  that  the  prelate  had 
usual  recourse  for  counsel  and  help,  not  to  a  single  evil  spirit — 
he  was  never  without  one  or  more  imps  ]-eady  to  come  to  him  at 
his  call — but  to  the  prince  of  fiends  himself,  from  whom  he 
received  all  aid  and  comfort  in  his  efforts  to  serve  Satan  effec- 
tually and  to  destroy  the  whole  work  of  God.' 

Soon  after  tlie  beginning  of  the  new  year  the  court  left 
Avignon  for  the  north.  If  the  audacity  of  the  Huguenots  in 
TheHugue-  taking  Saint  Gilles  almost  within  hearing  of  the 
ron^°*^'*^"  surprising  Aigues-mortes  before  Henry 

had  gotten  well  under  way,''  had  been  an  annoyance, 
the  rebuff  he  now  received  at  Livron — "  but  a  very  little  up- 

'  Claude  de  I'Aiibespine.    See  Rise  of  the  Huguenots,  i.  271. 

'  Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  ii.  143.  "  Tres  chiche  et  craintif  de  sa  vie,  prodigue 
de  celle  d'autrui,  pour  le  seul  but  qu'il  a  eu  en  vivant,  assavoir  d'eslever  sa 
race  a  une  demesuree  grandeur." 

'  Farel  to  Christopher  Fabri,  Neuchatel,  June  6,  1564,  in  the  letters  of  the 
reformer  appended  to  Fick's  edition  of  "  Du  Vray  Usage  de  la  Croix,"  315. 

■*  Jean  de  Serres,  v.  fol.  47. 

*  The  surprise  of  Aigues-mortes  occurred  January  12.  The  licence  of  the 
Protestant  soldiers  in  plundering  the  place  for  the  next  seven  days  furnished 
a  dangerous  precedent,  of  which  it  would  seem  that  advantage  was  soon  taken. 
Jean  de  Serres,  v.  fols.  52,  53. 


1575. 


WAR  AGAINST  THE  HUGUENOTS. 


43 


landish  town  "  ' — was  still  harder  to  be  borne  with  equanimity. 
The  Protestant  inhabitants  of  Livron  had  again  been  forced  to 
take  refuge  behind  their  strengthened  works  ;  they  soon  shoNved 
themselves  true  Huguenots,  better  acquainted  with  the  art  of 
defence  than  with  the  art  of  assault."  Henry  was  tempted  to 
stop  before  the  presumptuous  town  that  had  dared  to  deny  ad- 
mission to  the  royal  troops.  But  his  presence  only  incited  the 
garrison  to  greater  displays  of  courage.  He  was  saluted  at  his 
approach  by  a  discharge  of  artillery,  and  when  the  deafening 
report  had  ceased  there  succeeded  a  still  more  startling  shout 
from  the  throats  of  hundreds  of  soldiers  whom  the  Huguenot 
oflBcers  strove  in  vain  to  repress.  "  You  will  not  butcher  us  in 
our  beds,  as  you  bi;tchered  the  admiral ! "  was  a  cry  that  fell 
upon  Henry's  ears,  mingled  with  other  derisive  words  that  told 
too  clearly  the  depth  of  contempt  to  which  the  ci'own  had  fallen 
in  the  popular  estimation.'  A  few  days  after  the  king's  departure 
the  siege  of  Livron  was  for  a  second  time  abandoned  in  disgust. 

Meanwhile  in  the  west  the  royal  arms  had  purchased  success 
at  a  heavy  cost.    The  powerful  army  of  the  Duke  of  Mont- 
pensier  captured  the  important  city  of  Fontenay  after 

Capture  of 

Fontenay  and  a  sliort  but  vigorous  rcsistauce ;  but  the  loss  of  the 
assailants  in  dead  and  wounded  much  exceeded  that 
of  the  garrison.    The  castle  of  Lusignan  was  next  attacked,  but 
proved  a  more  difficult  place  to  master.    The  massive  walls, 


'  Dr.  Dale  to  Lord  Burleigh,  Lyons,  January  16,  1575,  State  Paper  Office. 

-  "  Monstrerent  bien  qu'ils  estoient  vrais  huguenos,  qui  S(;avoient  mieux  le 
mestier  de  se  defFendre  que  d'assaillir,"  Lestoile,  i.  48.  The  second  siege 
of  Livron,  begun  December  17,  1574,  and  prosecuted  with  marked  steadfast- 
ness of  purpose  by  a  powerful  army  under  the  direct  command  of  Marshal 
de  Bellegarde,  is  described  at  great  length  by  Jean  de  Serres,  v.  fols.  42-52. 

^  "  Hsec  vero  frequentius  increbescebant :  '  Haudquaquam  nos  in  lecto, 
sicuti  Amiralium,  mactabis :  educito  in  aciem  cincinnatos  illos  tuos,  veniant 
ad  nostras  uxores,  et  intelligent  quam  facile  sui  copiam  sint  facturae.' ''  Jean 
de  Serres,  v.  fol.  55.  This  writer  contrasts  the  unfortunate  licence  then  prev- 
alent with  the  strict  discipline  of  tlie  Protestant  armies  in  the  time  of  Coligny 
and  Louis  de  Conde ;  when  a  disrespectful  word  respecting  the  king  would 
have  cost  a  soldier  his  life.  The  Recueil  des  choses  memorables,  p.  538,  and 
the  Inventaire  general,  ii.  481,  give  a  very  similar  form  to  the  taunts  of  the 
Huguenot  garrison  :  "  Hau,  massacreurs,  vous  ne  nous  poignarderez  pas  dedans 
nos  licts,  comme  vous  avez  fait  I'Amiral,''  etc.    See  De  Thou,  v.  122,  184. 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE. 


Cu.  1. 


wliich  had  defied  for  centuries  the  strength  of  successive  assail- 
ants, were  commonly  reputed  to  be  guarded  by  the  spell  of  the 
most  potent  fairy  of  medi{)eval  fable.  The  beautiful  but  unfoi- 
The  fairy  Me-  tuuatc  Melusiue,  fated  by  her  mother's  curse  to  as- 
lusme.  surae  the  form  of  a  serpent  every  Saturday  until  the 
Day  of  the  last  Judgment,  unless  she  should  find  a  husband  too 
generous  to  pry  into  the  awful  secret  of  her  life,  had  miracu- 
lously caused  the  fabric  to  arise  for  the  abode  of  Raymondin, 
son  of  the  Count  of  Forez.  When  her  spouse  broke  liis 
pledged  faith,  she  fled  from  his  embrace  with  a  piercing  wail, 
and,  issuing  from  a  window,  was  seen  to  fly  through  the  air  in 
monstrous  shape.  Thrice  did  she  circle  i-ound  the  fated  castle, 
then  disappear  forever  from  human  sight.  Only  when  Lusig- 
nan  changed  its  masters,  or  when  some  member  of  the  lordly 
family  was  about  to  die,  did  the  occupants  of  the  castle  hear 
her  piteous  cry,  repeated  on  three  successive  nights,  sure  pre- 
sage of  coming  disaster.'  This  fortress  had  in  the  Middle 
Ages  given  title  to  a  distinguished  family.  In  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury Guy  de  Lusignan,  after  wearing  the  thorny  crown  of  Je- 
rusalem, had  obtained  the  more  substantia]  sovereignty  of  the 
kingdom  of  Cyprus.  In  the  thirteenth  century  Ungues  de  Lu- 
signan took  part  in  the  first  crusade  of  Saint  Louis  and  lost  his 
life  on  the  banks  of  the  Kile.  In  the  fourteenth  century, 
Pierre  de  Lusiijnan  was  aniono;  the  most  strenuous  advocates  of 
the  renewal  of  the  effort  to  rescue  the  Holy  Sepulchre  from  the 
liands  of  the  infidel."  The  fortress  from  which  these  stout  war- 
riors derived  their  name,  although  seized  by  the  Huguenots  in 


'  The  story  of  the  fairy  is  most  fully  told  in  the  tale  "  Melusine,"  written  hy 
Jehan  d' Arras  for  the  delectation  of  the  Count  of  Berry  and  Auvergne,  in 
1387,  and  recently  edited  afresh  by  M.  Brunet  (Paris,  1854).  Brantome  vou- 
ches for  the  statement  that  divers  washerwomen  at  the  fountain  below  the 
tower  had  heard  Melusine's  cries,  and  that  many  soldiers  and  "men  of 
honor ''  could  testify  to  her  loud  lament  when  the  castle  was  besieged.  The 
name  of  Melusine  is  supposed  to  bean  abbreviation  of  "  Mere  des  Lusignans," 
"  Mere  Lusigne,"  or  simple  "  Merlusine."  The  fairy  had  the  credit  of  having 
built  a  number  of  other  castles  'among  them  Partlienay,  Issoudun,  and  Sou- 
bise),  from  whose  ruinous  walls  spectral  apparitions  or  hideous  cries  issued 
from  time  to  time. 

=  Michaud,  Histoire  des  Croisades,  ii.  439;  iv.  125,  17G  ;  v.  184. 


1575. 


WAR  AGAINST  THE  HUGUENOTS. 


45 


1569,'  during  the  course  of  the  third  civil  war,  had  the  reputa- 
tion of  being  nearly,  if  not  quite  impregnable.  Besides,  the 
garrison  had  the  advantage  of  being  commanded  by  Rene  de 
Rohan,  Sieur  de  Frontenay,  who,  on  the  approach  of  the  royal 
army,  threw  himself  into  the  place,  with  forty  gentlemen  and 
six  hundred  picked  troops.  Well  did  general  and  soldiers 
prove  the  wisdom  of  the  movement  and  exhibit  their  own 
valor.  One  assault  after  another  was  bravely  met  and  foiled. 
It  M'as  not  until  the  siege  had  lasted  nearly  four  months  that 
the  Huguenots  could  be  brought  to  surrender  Lusignan,  and 
then  they  secured  the  most  honorable  terms.  On  the  twenty- 
fifth  of  January,  1575,  the  small  garrison  that  had  so  long  held 
at  bay  a  large  army  conunanded  by  a  prince  of  tlie  blood, 
marched  out  with  arms  and  baggage.  The  Protestants  only 
lost  twenty-five  gentlemen  and  two  hundred  soldiers.  Mont- 
pensier's  loss  was  variously  estimated  at  eight  hundred  or 
twelve  hundred  men.  He  satisfied  his  resentment  against  the 
castle  that  had  so  long  detained  him  by  razing  the  walls  to  the 
ground.    Xot  even  the  famous  "  tour  de  Melusine  "  was  spared.' 

While  his  armies  in  Poitou  and  in  Dauphiny  were  meeting 
with  such  indifferent  success,  Henry  the  Third  was  preparing 
to  receive  the  rite  of  anointing  and  coronation  at  the  hands  of 
the  Church.  The  ceremony  took  place,  according  to  custom,  in 
the  city  of  Rheims.  There,  too,  Henry  was  married  to 
nation  and    Louise  de  Vaudemout,  a  princess  of  the  family  of 

marriage.  .  .  .  . 

Lorrame.  JN  either  event  M'as  altogether  auspicious. 
Henry,  whose  mistake  it  was  that  he  generally  attended  to  sec- 
ular affairs  while  he  should  have  been  absorbed  in  the  offices  of 
religion,  and  gave  himself  up  to  superstitious  observances  just 
as  the  claims  of  his  kingdom  were  most  imperative,  exhibited 
the  utmost  irreverence  when  the  time  came  for  the  acts  that 


'  Rise  of  the  Huguenots,  ii.  323.  Tlie  castle  of  Lusignan,  described  by 
Froissard  (Johues's  trans,  i.  489)  as  "  very  grand  and  handsome,"  defied  the 
iirms  of  tlie  Earl  of  Derby  in  his  victorious  expedition  from  Bordeaux  soon 
ufterthe  battle  of  Crecy  (ibid.  i.  171). 

Recueil  des  choses  memorables,  r)24-527  ;  Lestoile,  i.  51  ;  De  Thou,  v.  128- 
132;  >  ,'rippa  d'Aubigne,  li.  147-157,  whose  account  is  very  full,  and  who 
gives  the  text  of  the  articles  of  capitulation. 


46 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE. 


Ch.  I. 


were  to  set  the  approval  of  the  Eoman  Catholic  Church  upon 
his  succession  to  the  throne.  lie  slept  instead  of  keeping  vigil 
during  the  night  preceding  the  coronation.  He  spent,  in  at- 
tending to  his  own  attire  and  in  inspecting  the  jewels  to  be 
worn  by  his  bride,  so  large  a  portion  of  the  day,  that,  contrary 
to  all  ecclesiastical  precedent,  the  mass  was  necessarily  deferred 
until  afternoon,  and  the  solemn  Te  Deuni  was  either  forgotten 
or  purposely  omitted.  "When  the  crown  was  placed  upon  his 
head,  he  interrupted  the  officiating  prelate  by  impatient  and  ill- 
omened  exclamations — that  the  crown  hurt  him,  that  it  was 
slipping  off.  At  the  close  of  the  service  he  had  no  time  to  per- 
mit the  archbishop  to  divest  him  of  garments  consecrated  by 
contact  with  the  holy  oil,  but  passed  with  perfect  unconcern 
from  the  cathedral  to  the  supper-room,  and  took  part  in  the  fes- 
tivities dressed  in  his  coronation  robes.'  The  marriage  of 
Henry  with  a  princess  of  Lorraine,  a  relation  of  the  Guises — a 
family  already  far  too  powerful  in  French  affairs — was  more  in- 
auspicious than  the  violation  of  churchly  usage.  Henry  had 
broken  off  negotiations  for  the  hand  of  a  daughter  of  the 
good  Gustavus  Yasa,  King  of  Sweden,  to  espouse  a  portionless 
girl  belonging  to  a  younger  branch  of  a  hated  and  dangerous 
race.°  The  match  was  unequal ;  the  accession  of  power  it  was 
likely  to  bring  to  Henry  of  Guise  and  his  brother  could  not  be 
viewed  by  calm  observers  without  serious  apprehension.  True, 
the  restless  Cardinal  of  Lorraine  was  dead,  and  it  was  not  yet 
suspected  that  the  eldest  son  of  Francis  of  Guise  had  inherited 
the  ambition  both  of  his  father  and  of  his  uncle.  Yet  it  might 
have  been  supposed  that  the  perils  attaching  to  matrimonial  al- 


'  For  this  last  incident  see  Miss  Freer,  Henry  III.,  ii.  17.  Cf.  also  De  Thou 
(who  was  an  eye-witness  of  the  coronation),  v.  186,  187  ;  Recueil  des  choses 
memorables,  540  ;  Lestoile,  i.  51. 

-  Miss  Freer,  ubi  supra,  ii.  5,  6.  According  to  the  author  of  the  Recueil  des 
choses  memorables,  541,  Catharine  was  a  warm  supporter  of  the  Lorraine  mar- 
riage alliance,  by  means  of  which  she  hoped  to  confirm  her  authority  in 
France.  And,  indeed,  Henry  was  profuse  in  his  declarations  to  foreign  am- 
bassadors to  that  effect.  "  Elle  me  fit  et  elle  me  maria,"  he  said.  But  com- 
mon report  made  it  quite  otherwise,  and  the  English  envoy  called  attention  to 
the  king's  own  contradictory  statements.  See  Dr.  Dale's  letters  to  Lord 
Burleigh,  March  5  and  18,  1575,  State  Paper  Office. 


1575. 


WAR  AGAINST  THE  HUGUENOTS. 


47 


liances  with  any  branch  of  the  House  of  Lorraine  would  readily 
suggest  themselves,  in  view  of  the  troubles  introduced  by  the 
marriage  of  Francis  the  Second  and  Mary  of  Scots.  Mean- 
while, for  the  present,  the  marriage  made  little  change  in 
Henry,  unless  it  were  that  he  became  even  more  averse  to  seri- 
ous occupations  ;  more  engrossed  alternately  in  puerile 
devotion  to  devotion  and  frivolous  pleasures,  and  more  impecu- 
pieahure.  jjjQ^jg  because  of  his  lavish  gifts.'  During  the  whole  of 
the  Lenten  season  immediately  following  upon  his  coronation 
and  marj'iage  he  went  daily  to  mass  and  listened  to  sermon 
after  sermon,  each  day  in  a  new  church.  At  the  same  time  he 
resorted  to  every  petty  device  to  relieve  his  poverty.  New 
taxes  were  imposed  ;  new  offices  were  put  up  for  sale  ;  money 
was  raised  by  giving  the  privilege  of  cutting  down  two  trees  in 
every  "  arpent "  of  all  the  forests  of  France.  One  day  Henry 
was  reported  not  to  have  enough  money  to  purchase 
an'tUavisS  a  dinner,  and  the  king  actually  sent  to  beg  a  loan 
from  all  the  counsellors,  advocates,  and  procureurs  of 
the  Parliament  and  Chatelet  of  Paris,  obtaining  from  each  a 
few  hundred  francs.  Some  days  later  the  public,  including  the 
king's  reluctant  creditors,  were  treated  to  the  information  that 
Henry  had  turned  the  whole  of  this  collection  to  account  in  the 
way  of  making  a  present  of  over  fifty  thousand  livres  to  satisfy 
the  rapacity  of  a  single  ravenous  favorite." 

The  Huguenots,  while  ably  conducting  their  military  opera- 
tions in  Dauphiny  and  Languedoc,  had  been  drawing  more  close 
the  bands  of  their  alliance  with  Daniville  and  the 
Hu"/uenots  °*  PoHtiques.  At  a  conference  lield  in  Nismes,  about 
atNfames?"^''  the  beginning  of  the  year,  another  perilous  step  was 
taken  in  the  course  to  which  the  Protestants  seemed 
driven,  as  by  a  fatal  necessity,  of  establishing  a  commonwealth 
of  their  own,  with  its  organized  forms  and  its  laws  of  action. 

'  On  his  way  from  Avignon  to  Rheims,  Henry  was  in  such  straits  for 
money  that  he  had  to  compel  one  "  Ludovico  da  Diagetto,  a  Florentyue," 
much  against  his  will,  to  loan  him  one  hundred  thousand  francs,  "  or  else  the 
king  could  not  have  gone  from  Avignon  to  be  sacred  at  Rheims,  nor  yet  to  be 
married."  Thomas  Wylson  to  Lord  Burleigh,  February  14,  157jS,  Wright, 
Queen  Elizabeth  and  her  Times,  ii.  5.  '  Lestoile,  i.  52. 


48 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NATARRE. 


Ch.  L 


The  union  was  signed  by  Damville,  in  the  name  of  the  Roman 
Catholics,  and  by  Viscount  Paulin  and  Baron  Terrides,  on  the 
part  of  the  Protestants.  The  marshal  engaged  upon  oath  to 
abstain  from  every  act  contrary  to  the  laws  and  statutes  adopted 
by  the  allies,  and  promised,  in  any  sudden  emergency  render- 
ing it  impossible  to  obtain  their  opinion,  to  obey  implicitly  the 
advice  of  the  council  with  which  he  had  been  provided.' 

Meantime,  in  the  spring  of  1575,  negotiations  were  in  prog- 
ress at  the  French  court  which,  althougli  they  have  received 
scanty  notice  from  historians,  throw  a  brilliant  light  upon  the 
purposes  and  the  temper  of  the  various  parties  in  the  State. 

From  the  pursuit  of  war  or  of  pleasure  the  court  now  seemed 
disposed  to  turn  its  attention  for  a  little  while  to  the  methods 
of  obtaining  the  peace  so  ardently  desired  by  the  im- 
forpeaoe._  fortunatc  classBS  of  the  population  upon  whom  the 
burdens  of  the  state  rested  most  heavily.  The  queen 
mother,  not  many  months  since  an  advocate  of  war,  had,  with 
her  usual  variableness,  veered  round  and  become  anxious  for 
the  restoration  of  peace.    She  had  discovered  to  her  great  an- 


'  De  Thou,  V.  18o  ;  Jean  de  Serres,  v.  fols.  33,  54,  where  a  portion,  and 
Vaissete,  Histoire  du  Languedoc,  v.  241-244,  where  the  whole  of  Damville's 
proclamation,  dated  January  12th,  1575,  is  given.  It  is  interesting  to  note 
that  as  Marshal  Damville  had,  from  an  enemy,  become  the  leader  of  the  Prot- 
estants of  Languedoc.  so  the  royal  army  with  which  the  Protestants  were  con- 
fronted was  commanded  by  the  Due  d'Uzes,  one  of  their  best  generals  in  former 
wars.  In  changing  sides  the  duke  was  also  accused  of  having  developed  a 
character  for  inhumanity  previously  unperceived  in  him.  It  was  he  that  gave 
the  disastrous  example  of  mercilessly  burning  the  gathered  crops  of  the  un- 
happy peasants  of  Languedoc.    Jean  de  Serres,  v.  fols.  105,  113. 

-  The  peace  negotiations  of  1575  are  briefly  described  or  referred  to  by  Les- 
toile,  i.  53  ;  the  Recueil  des  choses  memorables,  542-544  ;  Inventaire  general, 
ii.  483  ;  De  Thou,  v.  186-188  ;  Davila,  212  ;  also  by  Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  ii. 
173-175,  whose  sketch,  if  short,  is  verj-  graphic.  In  comparison  with  these 
writers,  however,  Jean  de  Serres  gives,  in  the  concluding  volume  of  his  in- 
valuable Commentarii  de  statu  religionis  et  reipublicae  (v.  fols.  63-101  i  a  far 
more  trustwortln-  and  detailed  account  of  this  highly  interesting  episode  in  the 
history  of  the  fifth  civil  war.  In  the  Memoires  de  Xevers  (Paris,  1665).  a  work 
of  almost  equal  rarity,  the  long  report  of  the  Protestant  envoys  themselves  is 
inserted  (i.  308-434),  under  the  title  "Negotiation  de  la  paix  faite  par  les 
depntez  du  Prince  de  Conde,  en  la  presence  du  Hoy  Henry  III.  et  de  la  Reine 
sa  mere,"  etc.    The  two  nan-atives  supplement  and  corroborate  each  other. 


1575. 


THE  PEACE  NEGOTIATIONS. 


49 


noyance  that  her  influence  over  the  king  was  mucli  diminished, 
and  that  many  things  passed  by  her  mill  more  than  were 
wont."  Besides,  even  her  restless  spirit  was  appalled  by  the 
indescribable  jealousy  and  confusion  reigning  at  court,  and  now 
she  declared  that  she  would  have  an  end  of  the  struggle  with 
the  Huguenots,  cost  what  it  might.  In  the  words  of  an  eye- 
witness of  the  deplorable  scene  :  "  They  were  all  bent  to  prep- 
arations of  war,  but  these  domestic  discords  do  tame  them. 
It  is  a  very  hell  among  them,  not  one  content  or  in  quiet  with 
another — -not  mother  with  son,  nor  brother  with  brother,  nor 
mother  with  daughter."  ' 

The  king,  too,  professed  a  desire  for  reconciliation  with  his 
subjects  of  Southern  France.  He  had  gone  so  far  as  to  permit 
both  Damville  and  the  Protestants  to  send  deputies  to  the  Prince 
of  Conde  at  Basle,  with  the  view  of  deliberating  with  him  re- 
specting the  terms  they  ought  jointly  to  insist  upon. 

On  their  way  the  deputies  stopped  at  Geneva  and,  under 
pledge  of  strict  secrecy,  consulted  the  council  of  that  faithful 
city  respecting  the  propriety  of  their  proposed  demands,  "for, 
gentlemen,"  said  they,  "  the  Protestants  of  Languedoc  trust  you 
as  much  as  they  trust  themselves."  Xor  was  this  all.  The 
Prince  of  Conde  sought  and  again  secured  permission  that  The- 
„   .  ^    ,   odore  Beza  should  be  present  at  the  conference,  and 

Beza  s  broad  i  ' 

itatesraan-     much  did  tliB  reformer's  sturdy  oood  sense  and  clear 

ship.  •' 

perceptions  contribute  to  the  adoption  of  the  manly 
course  that  was  ultimately  adopted.  A  statesman  of  large  and 
liberal  views,  Beza,  notwithstanding  his  long  period  of  residence 
on  the  banks  of  the  Leman,  had  not  forgotten  that  he  was  the 
citizen  of  a  larger  commonwealth  than  the  little  republic  of 
Geneva,  or  even  the  extensive  kingdom  of  France.  For  him 
the  whole  of  Christendom,  at  least  the  whole  of  that  part  of 
Christendom  which  had  espoused  the  Reformation,  constituted 
his  greater  country,  whose  interests  were  to  be  preferred  far 
above  the  interests  of  any  one  city  or  state ;  while,  as  for  Geneva, 

'  Dale  to  Walsingham,  two  letters,  both  dated  March  23,  1575,  State  Paper 
Office. 

"  Parce  que,  disaient  ils,  ils  se  fient  en  Messieurs  comme  eu  eux  mesmes." 
Fazv,  Geneve,  le  Parti  Huguenot,  etc.  25. 
Vol.  I.— 4 


50 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE. 


Ch.  I. 


to  her  belonged,  in  the  truest  sense,  the  honor  of  being  the  holy 
city,  with  the  high  privilege  of  serving  as  the  secure  refuge  of 
all  that  were  persecuted  in  other  parts  for  righteousness'  sake. 
The  broad  policy  of  the  reformer  might  make  Beza  a  somewhat 
unsafe  adviser  for  a  place  in  itself  so  weak  and  so  beset  with  ene- 
mies as  Geneva ; '  it  certainly  adapted  him  in  a  singular  degree 
to  comprehend  the  larger  diplomacy  of  European  Protestantism. 
It  commended  him  above  all  others  to  the  sympathy  and  the 
esteem  of  so  chivalrous  a  prince  as  Conde,  with  whom  duty  out- 
weighed considerations  of  danger,  and  who  always  preferred  a 
boldness  that  might  be  confounded  with  rashness  to  a  prudence 
verging  upon  cowardice.  So  it  was  that,  when  at  length  the 
duties  which  twice  called  Beza  to  Basle  in  the  spring  of  1575 
were  fully  discharged,  and  he  was  able  to  return  to  the  scene  of 
his  accustomed  labors,  he  was  followed  by  letters  from  Conde 
to  the  magistrates  of  Geneva,  full  of  expressions  of  thanks  for 
having  permitted  their  eminent  theologian  to  take  part  in  an 
enterprise  so  necessary  for  the  glory  of  God  and  the  quiet  of 
poor  France,  wherein  the  Huguenots  had  need  of  the  prudence 
which  he  so  well  displayed.  "I  assure  you,  gentlemen,"  said 
the  grateful  prince,  in  conclusion,  "  that  besides  the  general  es- 
teem which  his  rare  virtues  have  engraven  on  the  hearts  of  all 
good  men,  I  entertain  a  more  special  esteem  for  him  on  my  own 
account,  in  accordance  with  which  I  shall  make  known  to  any 
person  that  may  be  so  venturesome  as  to  attack  him,  that  he  has 
assailed  one  of  my  greatest  friends."  ' 


'  Witli  all  their  deep  reverence  for  his  character  and  resplendent  merits,  the 
magistrates  occasionally  found  it  necessary  to  remonstrate  with  Beza  for  con- 
duct which  they  deemed  imprudent  and  likely  to  involve  their  city  in  trouble. 
It  would  appear,  for  example,  that  in  December,  1574,  some  Huguenot  exiles 
undertook  a  fruitless  enterprise  of  a  military  character  in  the  direction  of 
Macon  and  Chalons.  Discovering,  upon  the  return  of  the  refugees  to  Geneva, 
that  Beza  had  been  privy  to  the  undertaking,  the  council  commissioned  the 
eminent  Michel  Roset  kindly  to  set  forth  to  him  that  he  ought  not  to  consent 
to  such  things,  still  less  take  part  in  them — "qu'il  ne  doit  consentir  a  telles 
choses,  moins  s'en  mesler."  Fazy,  21.  See,  also,  this  author's  valuable  re- 
marks, ibid.  11. 

■  "  Qu'il  se  sera  adresse  a  un  de  mes  plus  grands  amis."  Conde  to  the  Coun- 
cil, Basle,  June  22,  1575,  MS.  Geneva  Archives,  in  Fazy,  135,  136. 


1575. 


THE  PEACE  NEGOTIATIONS. 


51 


At  the  conference  the  debate  was  long  and  earnest.  What 
measure  of  religious  liberty  should  be  deemed  sufficient  ?  What 
satisfaction  required  for  the  late  massacre  ?  What  security  ex- 
acted to  avoid  the  possibility  of  being  cheated  in  the  future  as  in 
the  past  ?  'No  wonder  that  the  resolution  was  finally  reached  "  to 
make  good  and  stout  demands  on  all  these  points,  and  to  persist 
in  them  to  the  very  end."  For  the  Huguenots  had  excellent 
grounds  of  encouragement.  Since  the  renewal  of  the  war  they 
liad  been  almost  uniformly  victorious.  "  Never,"  wrote  Beza, 
"  even  when  we  had  large  armies  in  the  field,  had  we  one-tenth 
part  of  the  success  which  God  has  vouchsafed  to  us  as  against 
His  enemies  since  the  beginning  of  these  last  troubles." ' 

Early  in  the  month  of  April  the  deputies  from  Languedoc, 
together  with  other  delegates  commissioned  by  Conde  himself, 
found  themselves  in  Paris.  A  few  days  later  (on  the  eleventh 
of  April)  an  audience  was  granted  them  at  the  Louvre.  Henry 
of  Valois  was  attended  by  his  wife  and  mother,  by  his  brother 
Alen9on,  by  the  King  of  Navarre,  and  by  the  members  of  the 
royal  council,  among  whom  figured  Cardinal  Bourbon,  the  Duke 
of  Montpensier,  Marshal  Retz,  Morvilliers,  Sebastian  de  I'Aubes- 
pine.  Bishop  of  Limoges,  and  others,  drawn  to  the  queen  mother's 
apartments  not  merely  by  the  duty  of  their  office,  but  by  curi- 
osity to  learn  the  conditions  which  the  confederates  would  pro- 
pose. One  of  the  secretaries  of  state  was  present  to  make  an 
official  record  of  the  proceedings. 

In  behalf  of  the  little  knot  of  envoys,  some  deputed  by  the 
prince,  othei-s  by  Damville,  and  still  others  by  the  Protestant 
churches — they  may  have  been  eight  or  ten  in  all — a  former 
Speech  of  meinber  of  the  Parliament  of  Paris,  the  courageous 
d'  Annes.  gicur  d'  Arcucs,  was  put  forward  to  speak.  Beauvoir 
la  Node  and  such  "fronts  d'  airain"  as  Yolet,  Duchelar,  and 
Clausonne  stood  by  in  silence.    The  long  speech  of  Arenes  was 


'  "  Mais  quant  k  nos  freres  des  Eglises  de  France,  la  guerre  va  tousjours  en 
avant,  et  vous  puis  dire  que  lorsque  nous  avons  eu  grosses  armees,  nous  n'a- 
vions  point  la  dixiesme  partie  de  ce  que  Dieu  a  fait  centre  ses  ennemys  depuis 
les  derniers  troubles.''  Beza  to  Galiriel  Schlusselberger  Geneva,  March  35, 
1575,  Bulletin  de  la  Societc  de  I'histoire  du  Protestantisme  francais,  xvi.  (18G7j 
269. 


52 


THE  HUGUEXOTS  AND  HEXRY  OF  NAVARRE.         Ch.  I. 


in  every  way  worthy  of  a  man  distinguished  alike  for  his  elo- 
quence and  for  his  learning.'  He  expressed  an  earnest  longing 
for  peace,  but  warned  the  king  that  if  France  now  presented 
the  mournful  spectacle  of  irreligion,  discord,  and  insubordina- 
tion to  constituted  authority,  if  the  French  name  had  come  to 
be  covered  with  opprobrium,  as  Henry  might  himself  testify 
from  his  personal  experience  on  his  way  to  Poland,  the  cause 
was  to  be  sought  in  no  fatal  conjunction  of  heavenly  constella- 
tions or  influences,  but  in  the  violation  of  "  Piety  and  Justice  " 
— his  deceased  brother's  motto.  The  royal  faith  had  been 
pi'ostituted  in  the  butchery  of  St.  Bartholomew's  Day,  a  butch- 
ery of  which  Charles  the  Xinth  had  proclaimed  his  detestation 
in  public  letters,  but  which  he  had  been  impotent  to  prevent ; 
for  young  and  reckless  advisers,  like  those  whom  Kehoboam 
trusted,  had  prescribed  remedies  repudiated  by  older  and  wiser 
comisellors.  To  re-establish  "  Piety  and  Justice,"  those  two 
pillars  of  the  monarchy,  was  the  object  of  the  Prince  of  Conde 
and  Marshal  Damville  in  their  present  attempt. 

Hereupon  Ai-enes  handed  to  the  king  a  document  in  which 
the  prince  and  the  marshal  had  distinctly  set  forth  their  views. 
Henry,  after  assuring  the  envoys  that  he  fully  reciprocated  the 
desire  for  peace  so  eloquently  expressed  by  Arenes,  bade  them 
retire  to  the  adjoining  antechamber,  and  there  await  his  an- 
swer to  their  demands.* 

It  was  no  ordinary  letter  that  M.  de  Fizes,  the  secretary, 
now  proceeded  to  read,  nor  was  it  altogether  calculated  to 

^        please  the  ears  that  listened.    Conde  and  Damville 

The  Hugue-  i 

not  demands,  ^egau  by  tlic  usual  complimentary  phrases,  but  soon 
came  to  sober  and  unpalatable  truths.  They  assured  Henry 
that  both  Protestants  and  Roman  Catholics  had  been  driven  to 
take  up  arms  by  the  same  violence.  As  to  the  former,  the 
chief  cause  of  war  was  that  they  had  not  been  suffered  to  en- 
joy the  benefits  of  the  Edict  of  January,  so  solenmly  enacted 
and  promulgated.    Hence  had  arisen  conflicts  that  culminated 


'  "Arennius,  Condaei  legatorum  unus,  vir  cumprimis  eruditus  et  eloquens." 
Jean  de  Serres,  v.  fol.  73. 

'  Negotiation  de  la  paix,  Mem.  de  Nevers,  i.  308-313. 


1575. 


THE  PEACE  NEGOTIATIONS. 


53 


in  the  horrible  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew's  Day.  As  to 
the  latter,  the  pernicious  counsels  which  had  been  followed, 
and  in  accordance  with  which  the  first  pi-inces  of  the  blood  and 
the  chief  nobles  were  either  to  be  executed  or  to  be  consigned 
to  perpetual  imprisonment,  suflSciently  explained  their  action. 
To  put  an  end  to  this  state  of  things,  the  prince  and  the  mar- 
shal, in  the  name  of  their  confederated  followers,  had  reduced 
to  writing  their  demands.  The  document  that  followed  began 
by  an  article  in  which  the  king  was  requested  to  permit  the 
free  and  public  exercise  of  the  Reformed  religion  throughout 
the  entire  extent  of  the  French  dominions,  without  distinction 
of  persons  or  places,  and  including  the  celebration  of  Divine 
worship,  prayers,  the  administration  of  the  holy  saci'aments  and 
of  marriage,  the  visitation  of  the  sick,  the  burial  of  the  dead  in 
the  common  cemeteries,  schools,  the  printing  and  sale  of  books, 
the  discipline  of  the  Church,  the  holding  of  consistories,  col- 
loquies, and  synods,  collections  for  the  poor,  and,  in  general, 
all  else  necessary  to  the  proper  observance  of  the  rites  of  the 
Eeformed  religion.  So  much  for  the  first  article.  The  re- 
maining sixty-seven  articles  were  not  inferior  in  boldness. 
They  stipulated  for  the  right  to  build  and  own  churches,  for 
safe  residence  in  every  part  of  the  kingdom,  for  the  application 
of  the  tithes  paid  by  Protestants  to  the  support  of  their  own 
ministers,  for  the  re-establishment  of  the  salutary  ordinances  of 
Jeanne  d'Albret  in  the  Kingdom  of  Navarre,  and  for  the 
punishment  of  blasphemy.  They  did  not,  however,  forget  to 
suggest  that  the  toleration  sought  for  must  not  be  extended  to 
Epicureans  and  atheists,  for  these  should  be  visited  with  all 
forms  of  punishment. 

After  providing  for  an  equality  in  religion,  the  confederates 
proposed  a  plan  for  securing  the  impartial  administration  of 
justice.  So  far  as  possible  the  same  number  of  judges  ought 
to  be  appointed  from  both  religions.  But  as  that  result  could 
not  at  once  be  attained,  a  temporary  expedient  was  recom- 
mended. It  was  proposed  that  the  greater  royal  council  be  in- 
creased by  adding  to  its  members,  on  Conde's  nomination,  as 
many  Protestants  as  it  now  contained  Roman  Catholics ;  and 
that  forty  judges  chosen  from  this  entire  college  and  taken 


.54: 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.         Cu.  I. 


equally  from  the  two  religions  should  sit,  one-half  at  Montpel- 
lier  and  one-half  at  Cadours,  to  entertain  appeals  from  the  par- 
liaments. Among  many  other  provisions  all  tending  to  the 
same  end,  we  need  only  notice  two  demands — the  one  for 
the  punishment  of  the  perpetrators  of  the  Paris  massacre,  as  the 
most  satisfactory  proof  of  the  king's  detestation  of  that  crime, 
and  as  the  firmest  basis  of  a  lasting  peace  ; '  the  other  for  the 
annulling  of  all  sentences  for  religion's  sake  pronounced  since 
the  time  of  Heniy  the  Second,  and  especially  the  sentences  of 
Admiral  Coligny  and  Count  Montgomery.  As  a  pledge  for 
the  execution  of  the  edict  of  pacification,  the  confederates 
begged  to  be  allowed  not  only  to  retain  the  cities  now  in  their 
possession,  but  to  add  to  this  mmiber  two  other  cities  in  each 
province  of  the  kingdom.  There  were  other  demands,  of  a 
scarcely  less  startling  character,  which  must  be  passed  over  for 
the  sake  of  brevity." 

When  the  articles  had  been  read,  the  envoys  were  recalled 
into  the  royal  presence.  Xeither  Henry  nor  Catharine  wore 
the  benignant  looks  of  a  brief  hour  ago.  "  I  am  amazed,"  ex- 
siirprise and  claimed  the  former,  "at  the  new  and  strange  con- 
of'ife'!rry°and  tcnts  of  your  articles,  and  that  you  have  dared  to 
Catharine.  'bring  tlieui  to  me ;  ^  for  you  must  have  been  present 
when  they  were  concocted  and  have  known  what  they  were. 
This  leads  me  to  think  that  you  do  not  by  any  means  care  so 
nnich  for  peace  as  you  professed.  Well !  what  else  is  there 
that  you  wish  ?  "  In  vain  did  Arenes  excuse  himself  and  his 
comrades  as  ambassadors  confined  by  their  instructions  to  the 
tenor  of  the  articles  they  had  presented.    Henry  insisted  that 


'  The  Southern  Huguenots  had  been  in  favor  of  even  stouter  demands. 
"  They  of  Languedoc  would  have  had  put  in  that  tlie  authors  of  tlie  slaughter 
of  Paris  should  be  put  in  their  hands  to  be  executed,  and  the  death  of  the 
admiral  revenged  ;  but  this  was  thought  b^'  common  assent  to  be  an  impossi- 
ble thing,  and  therefore  without  purpose  to  be  asked."  R.  StaflEord  to  Bur- 
leigh, Basle,  March  29,  1575.    State  Paper  Office. 

-  Jean  de  Serres,  v.  fols.  65-73.  The  text  of  the  Protestant  articles  is  not 
given  in  the  relation  in  the  Memoires  de  Nevers. 

'  "  Lesquels  il  trouvoit  fort  estranges  et  s'esbahissoit  comment  nous  les  avions 
ose  presenter."    Mem.  de  Nevers,  i.  313. 


1575. 


THE  PEACE  NEGOTIATIONS. 


55 


Arenes  was  a  leader  in  the  councils  of  the  confederates.'  The 
Huguenot  turned  to  Catharine  de'  Medici  to  entreat  her  kind 
offices  with  her  son,  and  she  graciously  promised  to  employ 
them,  meanwhile  protesting  that  she  would  be  far  from  advis- 
ing Henry  to  grant  unreasonable  demands.  "  I  know  full  well," 
she  added,  "that  your  Huguenots  are  cats  that  always  alight  on 
their  feet ;  but  even  had  they  fifty  thousand  men  in  the  field, 
with  the  admiral  alive  and  all  their  leaders  at  their  head,  they 
could  not  talk  more  arrogantly  than  they  do  now." '' 

Two  days  latei-,  in  a  second  audience,  the  king's  ministers 
undertook  to  explain  the  reasons  why  Heniy  could  not  grant 
the  first  and  chief  article  of  the  demands  of  the  con- 
for religious  federated  Politiques  and  Huguenots.  "The  king, be- 
ing a  Roman  Catholic,"  said  Morvilliers,  "  wishes  all 
his  subjects  to  belong  to  that  faith.  It  is  only  right  that  the 
Protestants  should  renounce  a  religion  that  has  been  the  cause 
of  tumults  and  discord."  "  The  Protestants,"  replied  Arenes, 
"  will  obey  the  king  in  everything,  save  in  religion,  where  God 
prefers  obedience  rather  than  sacrifice.  Events  have  proved  our 
loyalty ;  for  so  often  as  King  Charles  accorded  us  religious  lib- 
erty, we  laid  down  our  arms  and  restored  the  cities  that  had 
fallen  into  our  hands.  The  charge  of  insubordination  is  a  stale 
calumny,  long  since  refuted.  The  Protestants,  indeed,  teach 
that,  so  far  as  religion  is  concerned,  we  must  simply  follow  the 
voice  of  God.  If,  therefore,  the  authority  of  the  Roman  re- 
ligion rest  on  an  antiquity  of  five  hundred,  or  even  a  thousand 
years — a  thing  utterly  out  of  the  question — we  shall  appeal  to 
the  authority  of  centuries  much  more  remote.  "We  shall  turn 
back  to  the  times  of  Christ  and  his  apostles,  upon  whose  teach- 
ing our  religion  is  founded.  Against  the  Truth  thei'e  is  no  pre- 
scription of  antiquity." '    "  We  do  not  demand  the  actual  exer- 


'  "Que  je  s<;ai  estre  de  leur  conseil  et  des  plus  avant."    Lestoile,  i.  53. 
'  Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 

'  "  La  coustume  generale  du  royaume  de  France,"  said  Arenes,  "est  que  le 
seigneur  ne  prescrit  point  centre  le  vassal,  ny  le  vassal  centre  le  seigneur,  et 
moins  centre  le  roy.  Done  a  plus  forte  raison  les  hommes  ue  peuvent  ac- 
querir  ny  prescription  ny  possession  contre  le  Roy  des  Rois,  et  Seigneur  des 
Seigneurs,  mesmement  au  droit  de  vassalite,  qui  est  le  droit  de  legitime  ser- 


5G 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE. 


Ch.  I. 


cise  of  our  religion  all  over  France  ;  for  that  we  must  abide  a 
more  opportune  time.  But  there  can  be  no  firm  concord  where 
distinctions  are  made  between  citizens  ;  for  if  the  one  class  be- 
come more  fierce  and  overbearing,  the  other  will  become  more 
distrustful." 

The  arguments  of  Arenes  were  reinforced  by  those  of  Clau- 
sonne,  who  in  the  matter  of  toleration  adduced  the  example  of 
the  Emperor  Charles  the  Fifth,  and  showed  that  Henry's  con- 
science could  scarcely  interfere  with  his  grant  of  religious 
liberty  to  the  Fluguenots,  in  view  of  the  engagements  into 
which  he  had  entered  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  the  crown 
of  Poland.  So,  too,  another  ambassador,  Beauvoir  la  Xocle, 
pointed  to  the  liberality  of  the  Emperor  Maximilian  who 
iiaximiiian-s  granted  religious  liberty  in  his  hereditary  dominions, 
example.  g^^j  evcu  iu  Yienua  itself,  upon  receiving  a  payment 
of  one  hundred  thousand  crowns  of  gold.  "Would  to  God, 
Sire,"  he  added,  turnmg  to  the  king,  "  that  we  had  paid  you  a 
million  crowns  at  a  time  when  we  could  have  furnished  them  ! 
"We  should  have  saved  a  far  greater  sum  of  money  than  that, 
and  the  lives  of  a  hundred  thousand  of  our  brethren  !  "  ' 

Thus  it  was  that,  the  Parisian  Matins  being  yet  recent,  their 
scenes  of  carnage  could  not  be  effaced  from  the  minds  of  the 
Protestants,  whose  delegates  seemed  forced  as  by  some  uncon- 
trollable impulse,  to  call  up  the  unwelcome  apparition  even  iu 
the  presence  of  royalty  itself.  A  little  while  after  the  occur- 
rence of  the  episode  that  has  just  been  narrated,  another  in- 
cident happened,  no  less  striking  in  character.  The  Huguenot 
demand  for  the  exercise  of  the  Peformed  worship  ev^erywhere 
throughout  France  was  under  consideration.  Holy  Baptism, 
the  king  was  reminded,  is  a  divine  ordinance,  administered  in 

vice  que  devons  a  Dieti,  regie  par  regie  de  fief,  qui  est  sa  volonte  expresse,  et 
non  par  iios  inventions  et  traditions  depuis  survenues."  Mem.  de  Nevers,  i. 
318. 

'  "  Pleust  a  Dieu  (dit-il)  que  nous  en  eussions  bailie  un  million,  Sire,  du 
temps  que  nous  le  pouvions  faire,  pour  espargner  cent  mil  de  nos  freres,  qu'on 
a  depuis  tuez  et  meurtriz  pour  la  religion.''  M6m.  de  Nevers,  1.  324.  "At 
utinam  tibi  (inquit)  Rex,  C  X  M  dependissemus,  eo  tempore  quum  nobis  fa- 
cultas  prsestandi  erat.  Longe  majorem  summam  et  C  M  fratrum  necem  re- 
demissemus.''    Jean  de  Serres,  v.  fol.  82. 


1575. 


THE  PEACE  I^EGOTIATIONS. 


57 


the  Protestant  churches  only  at  public  service  and  at  the  con- 
clusion of  the  preaching.  Great,  therefore,  said  the  deputies, 
are  the  dangers  to  which  the  infant  children  of  the  faithful  are 
exposed,  when  they  have  to  he  taken  long  distances,  often  in 
the  dead  of  winter  or  through  inclement  rains,  to  the  "  tem- 
ple," that  tliey  may  receive  the  sacred  rite.  Henry  of  Yalois 
whose  ignorance  of  the  religious  usages  of  a  considerable  body 
of  his  southern  subjects  was  as  profound  as  was  his  indifference 
to  their  interests,  remembered  only  the  easy  method  by  which 
a  similar  difficulty  could  be  met  in  the  Church  of  Rome. 
"  Comment,"  he  asked  in  some  astonishment,  "  comment  ne  les 
ondoyez-vous  pas,  comme  icy  ?  "  The  majority  of  the  delegates, 
uninitiated  into  such  refinements,  in  place  of  answei-ing  the 
king's  question,  were  compelled  to  turn  to  one  another  and  ask 
in  some  perplexity  the  meaning  of  the  strange  verb  "  ondoyer" 
which  his  majesty  had  been  pleased  to  use  ;  while  M.  de  Beau- 
voir,  for  all  reply,  exclaimed  in  a  tone  loud  enough  to  be  heard 
in  every  part  of  the  room :  "  We  have  been  only  too  much 
deluged  both  with  blood  and  with  water  " — "  On  ne  nous  a  <]ue 
trop  '  ondoyes '  en  sang  et  en  eau."  ' 

The  theme  was  undoubtedly  an  exciting  one  both  for  the  king 
and  for  his  mother ;  and  presently  Henry  of  Yalois,  warming 
with  the  debate,  called  for  wine,  and,  when  he  had  drunk  it, 
urged  the  Huguenots  to  trust  him.  "  If  I  l)e  not  compelled," 
he  said,  "I  will  give  you  peace  and  see  that  it  be  observed." 
"  That,"  replied  Beauvoir  la  Kocle,  "  will  be  very  necessary ; 
for  hitherto  your  ministers  have  acted  as  if  their  instructions 
were  simply  to  harry  us  by  every  means,  in  utter  contempt  for 
your  edicts." 

'  Memoires  de  Nevers,  i.  325.  Littre  (Dictionnaire  de  laLangue  fran<j^aise,  s. 
V.)  defines  "  ondoiement"  as  Baptism  which  is  administered  in  case  of  necessity 
and  in  wliich  the  ceremonies  of  the  churcli  are  omitted.  Du  Cange  (Glossariiim 
ad  Scriptores  Medise  et  Intimae  Latinitatis)  gives  the  equivalent  in  the  Latin  of 
the  thirteenth  and  subsequent  centuries—"  undeiare,"  "  undaizare."  and  "  un- 
dare  ;  "  and  quotes  certain  letters  that  passed  between  French  bishops  re- 
specting the  validity  of  an  "  ondoiement"  in  which  the  application  of  water, 
possibly  by  a  mother  or  by  a  layman,  was  accompanied  simply  by  the  formula, 
"  In  nomine  Patris,"  etc.  Among  the  instances  cited  is  this  one,  from  the 
fifteenth  century  :  "  La  suppliant  enfanta  d'un  fils,  lequel,  incontinent  qu'il 
fut  ne,  elle  print  et  umdea." 


58 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE. 


Ch.  I. 


Again  the  wilj  Queen  Mother  urged  the  envoys  to  produce 
their  supplementary  instructions.  When  they  repeated  that 
Catharine  they  had  been  entrusted  with  none,  she  informed 
blSdw'^t™'  them  that  they  ought  not  to  have  come  with  con- 
tfrms'"'"*"'  ditions  which  they  knew  they  could  not  obtain.  To 
which  they  pertinently  replied :  "  We  came  in  ansM-er 
to  the  repeated  commands  of  the  king  to  lay  before  him  our 
complaints."  When  Henry  again  insisted  that  they  should 
offer  terms  more  in  accordance  with  justice,  since  he  was  re- 
solved not  to  concede  these,  Catharine  exclaimed :  "  My  son, 
dismiss  these  men.  I  believe  that  it  is  God's  will  that  we  make 
no  peace  with  them,  in  order  that  they  may  pay  the  penalty 
they  deserve.  All  foreign  princes  will  learn  the  terms  which 
3'ou  have  offered  and  they  have  refused.  All  will  aid  you  in 
inflicting  punishment  upon  them."  She  added  in  a  lower  voice : 
"  You  know  what  they  wrote  to  you.  God  favors  kings.  Xo 
one  will  approve  this  obstinacy  of  your  subjects."  "isotthe 
Pope,  nor  the  King  of  Spain,"  interjected  Beauvoir.  "  Well," 
retorted  Catharine,  ''  will  any  Catholic  prince  regard  the  peace 
you  demand  as  a  just  one  ?  "  "  Yes,"  said  Beauvoir,  "  the  Em- 
peror will."  And  so  the  discussion  proceeded  ;  the  king  vehe- 
mently protesting  that  should  he  make  the  concessions  asked 
by  the  Huguenots,  he  would  deeply  offend  the  Papists,  and  the 
envoys  as  resolutely  maintaining  that,  in  the  universal  desire  of 
the  people  for  peace,  even  the  holders  of  ecclesiastical  benefices 
would  gladly  acquiesce.' 

The  question  of  "justice"  was  scarcely  less  knotty  than  the 
question  of  "  piety."  The  Huguenots  declared  that,  as  matters 
now  stood,  there  could  be  no  expectation  that  their  rights  would 
be  respected.  "How  can  we  hope  for  justice,"  said  they,  "  at 
the  hands  of  judges  that  hate  us  worse  than  they  do  Turks  ? "  " 


'  Negotiation  de  la  paix,  Mem.  de  Nevers,  i.  337  ;  Jean  de  Series,  v.  fol.  83. 

'  Two  points  in  the  demands  of  the  confederates,  it  should  be  noted,  failed 
to  obtain  the  approval  of  the  most  candid  and  fair-minded  among  the  Hugue- 
nots themselves.  The  first  was  a  provision  {in  Article  25)  for  the  relief  of  those 
Protestants  who  having  bought  judicial  positions  had,  on  account  of  their 
faith,  been  arbitrarily  deprived  of  them;  the  second  was  the  stipulation  (in 
Article  26)  that  those  ecclesiastics  who,  when  embracing  Protestantism,  had 


1575. 


THE  PEACE  NEGOTIATIONS. 


59 


The  most  intense  interest  was  manifest  wlien  the  thirty-fourth 
article  was  reached,  in  wliich  the  Huguenots  had  called  for  the 
_  .  ^     ,    punishment  of  the  authors  of  the  massacre  of  St. 

Punishment  1 

of  the  authors  Jjartholomcw's  Dav.    The  court  was  ready  with  an 

of  the  massa-  _  t     •  r^ 

ere  demanded,  answcr,  and  Morvilliers  was  its  mouthpiece.  "Great 
sins  have  been  committed  on  both  sides,"  he  said,  with  an  air  of 
impartiality  ;  "  let  them  all  be  buried  in  oblivion.'  It  will  be 
but  a  poor  augury  of  a  firm  peace  if  we  undertake  to  investigate 
and  punish  the  many  injuries  inflicted  upon  each  other  by 
Catholics  and  Protestants."  But  Arenes  repudiated  the  amnesty 
so  suavely  suggested.  "  This  massacre  was  no  sudden  outburst 
of  anger,  but  a  premeditated  plot ;  it  was  not  a  sudden  attack, 
but  a  treacherous  destruction  of  those  who  at  the  time  of  a 
feast  suspected  anything  else  rather  than  hostility.  The 
Huguenots  were  slain  when  they  had  come  to  Paris  by  the 
king's  express  invitation.  So  were  eight  hundred  slain  at 
Lyons,  after  they  had  been  summoned  to  the  citadel,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  command  of  the  king's  governor.  So  were  eigh- 
teen hundred  butchered  in  Rouen.  This  blood  cries  aloud  to 
God  for  vengeance.  The  king,  to  whom  God  has  given  su- 
preme command  next  to  Himself,  cannot  refuse  to  hear  it  nor 
excuse  himself  from  inflicting  condign  punishment  because  of 
the  multitude  of  culprits.  The  ancient  Romans  decimated 
whole  legions.  Those  who  think  that  no  satisfaction  ought  to 
be  exacted  for  this  crime  do  the  greatest  indignity  to  the 
memory  of  King  Charles  and  to  the  reputation  of  your  Majesty 
and  of  the  queen  your  mother.    You  yourself  know,  Sire,  from 


been  permitted  by  Charles  the  Ninth,  to  resign  their  benefices  in  favor  of  their 
friends,  in  order,  under  their  name,  to  enjoy  the  revenues  of  the  same,  sliould 
be  enabled  to  carry  out  the  arrangement.  It  was  justly  urged  that  the  first 
demand  gave  countenance  to  the  pernicious  abuse  of  venality  of  judicial 
oflSces,  and  the  second  to  tlie  yet  mofe  reprehensible  practice  of  simony. 
Morvilliers  had  good  reason  to  tell  the  Huguenot  envoy  that  the  latter  was  a 
demand  unworthy  of  the  religion  they  professed.  Jean  de  Serres,  v.  fols.  G9, 
8G,  87. 

■  When  a  little  while  before,  Catharine  de' Medici  said  to  one  of  the  envoys, 
"  Beauvoir,  il  faut  oublier  et  ne  parler  plus  des  choses  passees  ;"  the  latter 
aptly  retorted,  "Madame,  il  nous  faudroit  bailler  quelque  charnie  pour  les 
nous  faire  oublier,  les  choses  passees.''    Memoires  de  Nevers,  i.  32G. 


60 


THE  HUGUEXOTS  AXD  HEXRY  OF  NAVARRE. 


Ch.  L 


what  occurred  upon  your  journey  to  Poland,  how  strongly 
foreign  princes  detest  so  great  a  crune.  Should  a  new  edict 
forbid  any  investigation  into  the  misdeeds  committed  at  the 
time  of  the  massacre,  they  will  believe  that  the  assm-ances  given 
by  your  brother  that  he  detested  the  crime  were  a  mere  pre- 
tence. The  royal  majesty  ought  to  be  clear  not  only  of  crime, 
but  of  the  very  suspicion  of  crime."  To  this  one  of  the  real 
authors  of  the  massacre  answered  by  asseverating  his  innocence. 
"  That  crime,"  said  Henry,    occurred  contrary  to  my  will,  and  I 

detest  it  with  all  my  heart.  Xor  can  it  be  in  any  way 
erates  his  in-  imputed  to  my  brother.  King  Charles."  Catharine 
noceuce.  ^g^jj^-.^  ^y^g  ^        moro  guarded  in  her  assertions. 

She  gi'anted  that  grave  sins  had  been  committed  by  her  ad- 
herents, but  she  thought  that  the  faults  on  the  one  side  must  be 
weighed  against  the  faults  on  the  other.  The  Huguenots,  too, 
she  said,  had  slain  three  or  four  hundred  Eoman  Catholics  at 
Xismes,  and  thrown  the  bodies  into  the  wells.  To  which  Clau- 
sonne  replied  that  the  slaughter  at  Xismes  had  been  greatly 
exaggerated,  and  that  it  happened  in  time  of  war  and  contrary 
to  the  will  and  efforts  of  the  magistracy.  It  were  absurd  to 
compare  with  this  a  massacre  pei-petrated  in  time  of  peace.' 

If  the  king  and  his  mother  had  been  reluctant  to  promise  a 
judicial  investigation  for  the  purpose  of  discovering  and  punish- 
ing the  authors  of  the  massacre,  they  showed  even  more  imwil- 

lingness  to  do  justice  to  the  memory  of  the  great  hero 
SS^rVvin-  of  the  Huguenots.  "When  the  envoys  pronounced 
dicated.  Gaspard  de  Coligny  worthy  of  everlasting  praise, 
Henry  remarked  that  they  ought,  as  loyal  subjects,  to  be  more 
solicitous  for  the  good  name  of  King  Charles  than  for  that  of  the 
admiral.  "  The  king,  my  brother,  pronounced  the  admiral's 
sentence  of  condemnation  with  his  own  lips.  If  the  admiral 
be  declared  innocent,  it  wiU  redound  to  my  brother's  very  great 


'  Minor  discrepancies  in  numbers  between  the  accounts  in  Jean  de  Serres 
(v.  fol.  89)  and  the  Memoires  de  Nevers  (i.  341)  need  no  special  attention.  If 
the  queen  mother  exaggerated,  the  Huguenot  envov  undoubtedly  underrated 
the  victims  of  the  '•  Michelade '"  of  1567.  Thev  numbered  not  ''seven  or 
eight,"  nor  "  scarcely  a  score,'"  but  eighty  souls.  See  the  Rise  of  the  Hugue- 
nots, ii.  224.  225. 


1575. 


THE  PEACE  NEGOTIATIONS. 


61 


ignominy."    In  vain  did  Arenes  reply  that  the  sentence  was 

precipitate,  and  dictated  by  persons  who  had  imposed  upon 

Cliarles  the  Ninth  ;  his  royal  auditors,  and  especially  the  queen 

mother,  exhibited  their  extreme  vexation  in  word  and  in  look ; 

none  the  less  because  the  Huguenots  would  not  hear  of  a  pardon 

to  be  granted  to  the  admiral's  children — a  pardon  which  would 

in  itself  have  been  an  admission  of  guilt.' 

These  were  not  the  only  unpalatable  propositions.  Henry 

not  unnaturally  objected  to  the  article  by  which  he  would 

be  made  to  recognize  everything  done  by  Conde 

unpalatable  and  Damville  as  having  been  done  by  dutiful  sub- 
to  the  king.      .         •     t  •  .  ii         ii  ii  t<y-> 

jects  m  his  service  ;  although  the  envoys  had  no  diin- 
culty  in  finding  precedents  for  this  somewhat  inconsistent  dec- 
laration in  the  pacificatory  edicts  of  Charles  the  Ninth,  He 
was  still  more  incensed  when  mention  was  made  of  the  states 
general,  and  it  was  proposed  to  reduce  the  taxes  to  the  scale  of 
the  times  of  Louis  the  Twelfth.  The  demand  of  towns  as 
pledges  for  the  execution  of  the  royal  edict  of  peace  met  with 
no  greater  favor  in  Henry's  eyes  ;  even  when  he  was  reminded 
that,  for  lighter  reasons  than  the  Huguenots  might  allege,  God 
had  granted  the  Jews  cities  of  refuge.^  But  the  king  was  pro- 
voked above  measure  when  his  attention  was  called  to  the  re- 
quest of  the  Protestants  that  foreign  princes — the  Queen  of 
England,  the  elector  palatine,  and  the  Duke  of  Savoy,  not  to 
speak  of  the  Swiss  cantons — should  take  part  in  the  contract, 
and  that  a  copy  of  it  should  be  placed  in  their  hands  with  all 
due  solemnity.  "What  is  the  object  of  this  demand?"  said 
Henry  with  unusual  irritation.  "  If  the  edict  should  be  vio- 
lated by  me,  what  will  these  princes  undertake  to  do  against 
me  ?  I  have  no  authority  over  their  dominions,  nor  have  they 
any  in  turn  over  mine.  Let  them  attend  to  their  affairs,  and 
command  their  subjects  ;  I  shall  manage  my  own  kingdom  and 
my  own  people." ' 

'  Negotiation  de  la  paix,  Mem.  de  Nevers,  i.  354 ;  Jean  de  Serres,  v.  fol.  94. 

'  Mem.  de  Nevers,  i.  358-365 ;  Jean  de  Serres,  v.  fols.  95,  96. 

'Jean  de  Serres,  v.  fol.  98.  "  Sembia  que  le  roy  s'esmeut  aucunement ; 
demandant  par  deux  ou  trois,  que  luy  feroient  ceux-la,  s'il  contrevenoit  a  la 
paix  ?  Qu'ils  n'avoient  que  voir  sur  luy,  ni  a  se  mesler  de  ses  affaires,  non 
plus  qu'il  ne  se  mesloit  en  tel  cas  des  leurs. "    Mem.  de  Nevers,  i.  365. 


62 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.         Ch.  I. 


Through  the  long  discussion  the  envoys  of  Conde  and  of  the 
Huguenots  had,  day  after  day,  defended  the  articles  entrusted 

to  their  charge,  and,  unwelcome  at  every  point  as 
?ieVoMti'qnes  Were  the  terms  proposed,  the  king  and  his  court  had 
deris^n.'"^''  listened  with  respectful  attention.    It  was  otherwise 

when  Monsieur  de  Saux,  the  deputy  of  Marshal  Dam- 
ville,  undertook  to  dilate  upon  the  necessity  of  reforming  the 
abuses  of  the  Church.  The  drama  had  been  serious  enough,  in 
places  even  pathetic  ;  it  now  turned  into  a  broad  farce.  It  was 
one  thing  to  listen  to  those  brave,  scarred  Huguenots,  whose 
right  arms  had  often  dealt  on  the  battle-field  blows  as  steady 
and  crushing  as  the  arguments  that  now  dropped  from  their 
lips  ;  it  was  quite  another  to  sit  quietly  and  hear  a  studied  and 
insincere  harangue  on  the  trite  subject  of  church  reformation 
from  the  representative  of  one  of  the  most  dissolute  of  Roman 
Catholic  noblemen.  The  orator  had  not  advanced  far  before 
the  company  began  to  fidget  and  yawn.  Old  Cardinal  Bourbon 
muttered  some  indignant  exclamation.  Then  Catharine  de' 
Medici,  whom  no  one  could  surpass  in  bitter  raillery,  broke  out 
upon  the  deputy  of  the  Politiques.  "  Those  are  fine  words, 
Saux  I  You  want  to  make  a  speech,  forsooth.  As  if  you  could 
instruct  us !  We  know  all  that  you  know.  "We  are  of  the 
same  religion  as  you.  We  listen  patientlj-  to  '  those  of  the  re- 
ligion,'because  from  them  we  can  learn  somethino:;  but  can 
any  one  endure  you  with  quietness  ?  "  In  vain  poor  Saux  en- 
deavored to  secure  a  hearing,  demanding  it  in  the  name  of 
Damville  and  his  associates  ;  as  often  as  he  opened  his  lips  he 
was  greeted  by  the  jeers  of  the  entire  company.' 


'  Jean  de  Serres,  v.  fol.  99  ;  Mem.  de  Nevers,  i.  368.  It  must  be  confessed 
that  the  envoys  of  the  Politiques  found  themselves  more  thau  once  in  an  em- 
barrassing situation ;  especially  when  it  appeared  by  the  statement  of  one  of 
their  own  number  (in  spite  of  Saux's  denial)  that  they  had  not  only  approved 
but  signed  with  their  own  hands  the  Huguenot  "  cahier,''  including,  among 
other  things,  a  stipulation  for  the  liberty  of  nuns  to  marry.  "  What !  "  said 
Henry,  who  had  an  inherited  taste  for  sarcasm.  "  You  wish  and  demand,  on 
the  one  hand,  that  the  Catholic  Church  be  reformed,  and,  on  the  other,  that 
the  nuns  maybe  suffered  to  marry."  And  both  the  kinff  and  his  mother 
laughed  heartily  at  the  discomfiture  of  the  Politiques.  Mem.  de  Nevers,  i. 
385^ 


1575. 


THE  PEACE  NEGOTIATIONS. 


63 


About  a  fortnight  had  been  spent  in  negotiation,  profitless 
save  as  exhibiting  the  aims  and  temper  of  the  parties.  Both 

sides  were  quite  ready  to  conclude  a  bargain  ;  the 
fers  unaccept-  difficulty  fvas  that  they  were  too  far  apart  in  their 

views  to  give  much  hope  of  an  amicable  agreement.' 
At  last  on  the  twenty-third  of  April,  the  king  offered  his 
terms :  The  Protestants  to  have  sixteen  cities — eight  in  Lan- 
guedoc,  six  in  Guyenne,  and  two  in  Dauphiny^ — and,  in  turn,  to 
restore  to  the  king  the  cities  now  in  their  possession  in  the  state 
in  which  they  were  before  the  war.  The  king  to  appoint  four 
new  judges  in  the  Parliament  of  Paris  and  select  sixteen  from 
the  existing  body,  who  should  together  administer  justice  for  the 
benefit  of  the  Huguenots.  So,  also,  at  Montpellier.  Elsewhere 
the  Huguenots  to  have  the  right  to  challenge  peremptorily  four 
judges.''  These  conditions  the  Protestant  envoys  promptly  de- 
clared to  be  inadmissible,  Beauvoir  la  Node  begging  Henry  to 
remember  that  the  people  must  be  satisfied.  Thereupon  the 
He  substitutes  monarch  deigned,  the  next  day,  to  enlarge  the  terms, 
better  terms,  j  jg  conseutcd  that  the  Huguenots  should  enjoy  liberty 
to  reside  unmolested  in  any  part  of  the  kingdom,  and  to  worship 
in  all  places  now  in  their  possession,  excepting  the  four  cities 
of  Montpellier,  Castres,  Aigues-mortes,  and  Beaucaire.  Besides 
this,  the  same  right  was  to  be  enjoyed  by  all  noblemen  holding 
fiefs  of  the  first  rank,  for  themselves  and  for  all  visitors ;  while 
nobles  of  inferior  jurisdiction  were  allowed  the  same  privilege 
for  themselves  and  their  families,  but  not  in  walled  cities  and 
their  suburbs,  especially  cities  belonging  to  the  queen  mother 
or  to  Anjou,  nor  within  ten  leagues  of  Paris  or  two  leagues  of 
the  court.' 


'  To  Jean  de  Serres,  v.  fol.  99,  the  whole  transaction  was  wonderfully  like 
the  haggling  of  shrewd  hucksters,  "  making  a  small  offer  at  first,  then  adding 
a  little,  asking,  detaining,  throwing  in  vague  hints  of  threats,  feigning  to  go 
away,  returning." 

Jean  de  Serres,  v.  fol.  100 ;  Mem.  de  Nevers,  i.  368,  369. 

^  The  written  answer  given  by  Henry  to  the  Huguenot  demands,  article  by 
article,  was  dated  Paris,  May  5,  1575.  To  this  he  appended,  under  date  of 
May  18th,  two  short  sentences  slightly  enlarging  his  concessions.  The  only  ad- 
ditional point  of  importance  was  that  the  Protestants  should  have  in  each  baili? 


64 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE. 


Ch.  1 


These  were  almost  the  concluding  scenes  of  the  negotiations. 
The  envoys  would  neither  accept  nor  refuse  the  proposals  of 
End  of  the  the  court.  They  could  only  promise  to  report  the 
negotiations,  ^gj.jjjg  tlioso  wlio  had  SBut  them.  It  was  with  re- 
luctance that  they  obtained  permission  to  withdraw  from 
Paris.  But,  if  the  wrangle  between  Henry  and  Catharine, 
on  the  one  hand,  and  the  Huguenots  and  their  allies,  on  the 
other,  had  proved  fruitless  of  good  so  far  as  the  immediate  re- 
sults aimed  at  were  concerned,  it  had  not  been  without  its 
moral  effect.  It  was  something,  within  the  very  walls  of  the 
Louvre,  and  a  stone's  throw  from  the  window  from  which 
Charles  amused  himself,  less  than  three  years  before,  with  fir- 
ing his  arquebuse  at  the  miserable  Huguenots,  as  though  they 
had  been  game — it  was  something,  I  say,  for  Huguenot  envoys 
The  "prodig-  ^^nblushingly  to  make  "  a  strange  and  prodigious  de- 
forthe'^Edict  "i^'id  for  the  Edict  of  January."  It  was  proof  posi- 
oi  January,  ^jyg  ^j^^t  the  boy-klug's  adviscrs  and  instigators  had 
failed  to  fulfil  their  part  of  the  bargain  ;  more  than  one  Hu- 
guenot remained,  if  not  to  reproach,  at  least  to  require  satis- 
faction for  the  crime  perpetrated  on  that  wretched  Sunday  of 
August.  The  Protestant  ranks  had  been  thinned  by  the  assas- 
sin's dagger,  but  their  spirit  was  not  broken.  They  exacted 
neither  more  nor  less  than  they  had  claimed  as  their  right  in 
previous  negotiations.  There  were,  indeed,  those  among  them 
that  doubted  the  expediency  of  insisting  at  this  time  so  strenu- 
ously upon  terms  which  they  could  scarcely  hope  by  any  possi- 
bility to  obtain ;  but  the  judgment  of  the  leaders  was  A'indicated 
by  the  issue  ;  the  very  rigidity  of  the  conditions  from  which 
they  declined  to  recede  determined  the  wavering  and  strength- 
ened the  party.'  Even  La  Roclielle,  in  the  vicinity  of  which 
Huguenot  arms  had  met  with  little  success,  holding  scarcely 


wick  of  the  kingdom  au  enclosed  place,  and  that  among  these  places  should  be 
one  city  in  each  of  the  ancient  governments,  to  be  selected  by  his  majesty. 
The  document  in  full  is  printed  at  the  end  of  the  narrative  of  the  Huguenot 
envoys,  Mem.  de  Nevers,  i.  435-433. 

'  "  Comme  plusieurs  interpretoient  la  durete  des  articles  avoir  este  telle 
pour  monstrer  leur  fermete,  et  par  la  tirer  a  soi  ceux  qui  marchaudoient  en- 
cores ;  comme  il  aviut. ''    Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  ii.  176. 


1575. 


THE  PEACE  NEGOTIATIONS. 


65 


an  inch  of  ground  on  the  mainland,  and  scantily  supplied  with 
bread,  was  now  induced,  through  brave  La  Noue's  persuasive 
words,  to  assume  a  bold  front.'  Just  as  the  Huguenot  envoys 
were  on  the  point  of  returning  to  their  homes,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  Arenes  and  a  companion,  left  behind  to  avoid  the  appear- 
ance of  relinquishing  all  hope  of  peace,  there  ap- 

Iiitercessions  i     •       -r->     •  i  i  r  i    r  • 

of  foreign  pcai'ed  111  1  aris  ambassadors  from  several  foreign 
states,  sent  to  enforce  upon  Henry  the  wholesome  coun- 
sel that  he  should  come  to  an  understanding  with  his  subjects 
and  quench  the  flames  of  war.  The  Swiss  legation  was  specially 
imposing,  with  a  magistrate  of  Berne,  not  less  eminent  in  sta- 
tion than  distinguished  for  eloquence,  at  its  head.  Almost  the 
same  day  came  the  ambassador  of  Duke  Emmanuel  Philibert, 
of  Savoy.  Both  urged  Henry  to  grant  the  petitions  of  his 
Protestants  for  religious  liberty,  and  the  Savoyard  pointed  as 
an  example  to  the  partial  toleration  he  had  accorded  in  his  own 
dominions.  Queen  Elizabeth  added  her  intercessions  to  those 
of  the  continental  allies  of  France,  using  her  ambassador.  Dr. 
Dale,  as  her  mouthpiece.  All  these  efforts,  however,  proved 
as  abortive  as  those  of  the  Huguenots  themselves.'  Not  lonor 
after,  the  Prince  of  Orange,  to  whom  it  would  seem  that  Henry 
had  himself  sent  an  envoy,  about  the  end  of  April,  requesting 
his  good  offices  in  allaying  the  commotions  in  France,  in  turn 
despatched  one  Dr.  Junius,  Governor  of  Veere,  to  Paris,  with 
instructions  to  gratify  the  king's  laudable  desire.  Dr.  Junius 
arrived  too  late  to  be  of  much  service,  for  the  Protestant  dep- 
uties were  gone.  But  he  elicited  at  least  a  frank  avowal  from 
his  majesty.  "  Thereupon,"  says  the  governor,  "  the  king  ex 
temjyore  gave  me  this  answer  .  .  .  that  he  saw  distinctly 
from  the  results  that  nothing  has  been  gained  by  the  attempt 
to  take  from  the  Protestants  of  his  kingdom  of  France  the  exer- 
cise of  their  religion,  and  that  he  has  consequently  made  up  his 
mind  to  govern  his  subjects  with  all  gentleness  and  fatherly  af- 

'  Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 

The  Huguenot  envoys  give  a  very  minute  and  circumstantial  account  of 
the  Swiss  and  Savoyard  efforts  in  their  long  narrative  of  their  mission. 
"  Negotiation  de  le  paix,"  Mem.  de  Nevers,  i.  388-424.    See  also  Jean  de 
Serres,  v.  fols.  102,  103  ;  Agrippa  d'Aubigue,  ii.  175;  De  Thou,  v  188. 
Vol.  I.— 5 


66 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE. 


Cu.  L 


fection,  and  to  give  tliem  reason  to  love  and  obey  him."  To 
all  which,  and  to  the  king's  request  that  he  should  labor  with 
the  Prince  of  Conde  to  bring  him  to  his  way  of  thinking,  the 
worthy  governor  doubtless  listened  with  courtesy  and  appar- 
ently with  implicit  confidence.  Xone  the  less,  however,  did  he 
express  to  Conde,  with  pardonable  scepticism,  his  suspicion  re- 
specting peace  negotiations,  of  whose  progress  the  Pope  was 
said  to  be  kept  advised,  and  which  met  with  approval  at  Rome. 
The  horrible  acts  were  yet  fresh  in  men's  memories  by  which 
former  edicts  of  pacification  had  been  violated.' 

Throughout  the  summer,  uninterrupted  by  the  progress  of 
the  fruitless  negotiations  to  which  we  have  been  attending,  the 
Treacherous  desolatiug  plague  of  War  continued  its  ravages.  'Not 
disguises.  ^i^^i  tjjg  conflict  was  without  its  exciting  adventures. 
In  the  struggle,  which  often  narrowed  itself  down  to  an  attempt 
to  take  city  by  city,  treachery  and  stratagem  had  a  rare  op- 
portunity for  display.  Many  were  the  disguises  adopted,  many 
the  cunning  plans  devised.  Mont  Saint  Michel,  commonly 
called  "  Mont  Saint  Michel  au  peril  de  la  mer,"  in  the  extreme 
southwestern  corner  of  Xormandy,  was  a  stronghold  much  cov- 
eted by  the  Huguenots  of  that  province.  The  prospect  of 
gaining  those  massive  walls  by  open  warfare  was  not  encour- 
aging. But  a  party  of  five-and-twenty  Protestants,  dressed  in 
the  rough  garb  of  pilgrims,  found  ready  admission  at  the  gates. 
Slowly  and  with  well-simulated  devotion  they  climbed  the 
six- score  steps  that  led  to  the  abbey  church,  situated  on  an  em- 
inence commanding  the  town.  Here,  after  paying  for  a  mass, 
and  buying  consecrated  candles,  they  concluded  the  solemn 
farce  by  stabbing  the  priest  when  he  turned  to  present  the 
plate  for  their  offerings,  and  made  themselves  masters  of  the 
holy  place." 

But  whatever  military  advantages  the  Huguenots  obtained 


'  Dr.  J.  Junius  to  the  Prince  of  Conde,  June,  1575,  Groen  van  Prinsterer, 
V.  237-243. 

"De  Thou,  V.  192,  196;  Lestoile,  1.  56;  Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  ii.  158-160; 
Claude  Haton,  ii.  895.  The  latter  refers  the  incident  to  a  date  about  two 
years  later. 


1575. 


THE  WAR  CONTINUED. 


6Y 


in  various  parts  of  tlie  realm  were  more  than  outweighed  by 
the  death  of  "  the  brave  Montbrun."    This  daring  and  ener- 
getic leader,  the  terror  of  the  enemy  in  Danphinv,' 

Capture  of       ?    ,    .  ,    ,.  t       ,  ,      ^         j-    o     •  .  , .  / 

Montbrun,  had  ]ust  defeated  a  large  body  of  fewiss  auxiliaries, 
upon  whom  he  inflicted  a  loss  of  eight  or  nine  hun- 
dred men  and  eighteen  ensigns,  while  that  of  the  Huguenots 
scarcely  amounted  to  half  a  dozen  men.  But  his  brilliant  suc- 
cess in  this  and  other  engagements  had  made  Montbrun  and 
his  soldiers  more  incautious  than  usual.  They  attacked  a 
strong  detachment  of  men-at-arms,  and  mistaking  the  con- 
fusion into  which  they  threw  the  advance  guard  for  a  rout  of 
the  entire  body,  dispersed  to  gather  the  booty  and  offered  a 
tempting  opportunity  to  the  Roman  Catholics  as  they  came  up. 
Montbrun,  who,  too  late,  discovered  the  danger  of  his  troops, 
and  endeavored  to  rally  them,  was  at  one  time  enveloped  by 
the  enemy,  but  would  have  made  good  his  escape  had  there 
not  been  a  broad  ditch  in  his  way.  Here  his  horse  missed  its 
footing,  and  in  the  fall  the  leader's  thigh  was  broken.  In  this 
pitiable  plight  he  surrendered  his  sword  to  a  Roman  Catholic 
captain,  from  whom  he  received  the  assurance  that  his  life 
would  be  spared.' 

The  king  and  his  mother  had  other  views.  Henry,  on  re- 
ceiving the  grateful  news  of  Montbrun's  capture,  promptly  gave 
orders  that  the  prisoner  be  taken  to  Grenoble  and  tried  by  the 
Parliament  of  Dauphiny  on  a  charge  of  treason.  Vain  were 
the  efforts  of  the  Huguenots,  equally  vain  the  intercession  of 
the  Duke  of  Guise,  who  wished  to  have  Montbrun  exchanged 
for  Besme,  Coligny's  murderer,  recently  fallen  into  Huguenot 
hands.  Henry  and  Catharine  de'  Medici  were  determined  that 
Montbrun  should  die.  They  urged  the  reluctant  judges  by 
reiterated  commands  ;  they  overruled  the  objection  that  to  put 
the  prisoner  to  death  would  be  to  violate  good  faith  and  the  laws 
of  honorable  warfare.    Catharine  had  not  forgotten  the  honest 


'  "Ex  praecipuis  ducibus  Huguenotorum,  qui  multa  fortiter  et  feliciter  in 
his  bellis  civilibus  fecit."    Languet,  Epistolae  senretae,  i.  114. 

-'  Jean  de  Serres,  v.  fols.  106,  seq.  ;  Recueil  des  choses  memorables,  546, 
etc.  ;  De  Thou,  v.  203  ;  Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  ii.  137. 


68 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE. 


Ch.  L 


Frenchman's  allusion  to  her  "  perfidious  and  degenerate  "  coun- 
trymen.' 

As  for  Henry,  an  insult  received  at  Montbrun's  hands  ran- 
kled in  his  breast  and  made  forgiveness  impossible.  Some 
Henry  res-  months  bcfore,  the  king  had  sent  a  message  to  him  in 
Montbran  ^  somewliat  liauglitv  toue,  demanding  the  restoration 
must  die.  ^£  ^YiQ  royal  baggage  and  certain  prisoners  taken  by 
the  Huguenots.     "  What  is  this ! "   exclaimed  the  general. 

The  king  writes  to  me  as  a  kins:,  and  as  if  I  were  bound  to 
obey  him !  I  want  him  to  know  that  that  would  be  very  well 
in  time  of  peace  ;  I  should  then  recognize  his  royal  claim.  But 
in  time  of  war,  when  men  are  armed  and  in  the  saddle,  all  men 
are  equal."  On  hearing  this,  we  are  told,  Henry  swore  that  Mont- 
bruu  should  repent  his  insolence.  In  his  glee  over  the  Hugue- 
not's mishap  he  recalled  the  prophecy  and  broke  out  with  the 
exclamation,  "  Montbrun  will  now  see  whether  he  is  my  equal." ' 

Under  these  cii'cumstances  there  was  little  chance  for  a  Hu- 
guenot, were  he  never  so  innocent,  to  be  acquitted  by  a  servile 


'  See  above,  page  36.  Catharine  and  the  knot  of  Italians  whom  she  had 
gathered  about  her  were  very  sensitive  on  the  point  of  nationality.  Lestoile 
(  i.  57)  tells  us  that,  Tuesday,  July  5,  1575,  a  captain  La  Vergerie  was  hung 
and  quartered  by  order  of  Chancellor  Birague  and  some  maitres  de  requetes 
named  by  the  queen  mother,  for  merely  saying,  in  a  conversation  respecting 
a  quarrel  between  the  University  students  and  some  Italians  at  Paris,  that  his 
friends  ought  to  espouse  the  side  of  the  former  "  et  saccager  et  couper  la  gorge 
a  tous  ces  b.  d'ltaliens  qui  estoient  cause  de  la  ruine  de  la  France."  The 
popular  indignation  vented  itself  in  a  multitude  of  sonnets  and  pasquinades 
against  Catharine  de'  Medici. 

-  "  Estant  en  Avignon,  il  [Henry  III.]  escrivit  une  lettre  audit  Monsieur  de 
Montbrun,  un  peu  brave,  haute  et  digne  d'un  roy,  sur  quelques  prisonniers 
qu'il  avoit  pris,  et  sur  I'insolenee  faite.  II  respondit  (si)  outrecuj-demment 
que  eela  luy  cousta  la  vie.  '  Comment,'  dit-il ;  '  le  Roy  m'escrit  comme  Roy, 
et  comme  si  je  le  devois  reconnoistre !  Je  veux  qu'il  s^ache  que  cela  seroit 
bon  en  temps  de  paix,  et  qu'alors  je  le  reconnoistraj-  pour  tel ;  mais  en  temps 
de  guerre,  qu'on  a  le  bras  arme,  et  le  cul  sur  la  selle,  tout  le  monde  est  com- 
pagnon.'  Telles  paroles  irriterent  tellement  le  Roy,  qu'il  jura  un  bon  coup, 
qu'il  s'en  repentiroit."  Brantome,  Mestres  de  Camp  Huguenots  de  I'lnfan- 
terie  Francoise,  CEuvres,  xi.  151.  Brantome  was  at  court  when,  over  a  year 
later,  news  came  of  Montbrun's  capture.  Henry,  he  tells  us,  was  greatly 
pleased,  and  said :  "  Je  scavois  bien  qu  'il  s'en  repentiroit,  et  mourra  ;  et  verra 
bien  a  cette  heure  s'il  est  men  compagnon."    Ibid.,  p.  152. 


1575. 


THE  WAR  CONTINUED. 


69 


parliament.  Accordingly  Montbrun  was  condemned  to  be  be- 
headed as  a  rebel  against  the  king  and  a  disturber  of  the  public 
peace.  The  execution  was  hastened  lest  natural  death  from  the 
injury  received  should  balk  the  malice  of  his  relentless  enemies. 

A  contemporary,  who  may  even  have  been  an  eye-witness, 
describes  the  closing  scene  in  words  eloquent  from  their  unaf- 
fected simplicity.  "  lie  was  dragged,  half  dead,  from  the  prison, 
Montbrun-s  ^'^^  Carried  in  a  chair  to  the  place  of  execution, 

execution.  exhibiting  in  his  affliction  an  assured  countenance ; 
while  the  Parliament  of  Grenoble  trembled  and  the  entire  city 
lamented.  He  had  been  enjoined  not  to  say  a  word  to  the  peo- 
ple, unless  he  wished  to  have  his  tongue  cut  off.  Nevertheless 
he  complained,  in  the  presence  of  the  whole  parliament,  of  the 
wrong  done  to  him,  proving  at  great  length  his  innocence  and 
contemning  the  fury  of  his  enemies  who  were  attacking  a  man 
as  good  as  dead.  He  showed  that  it  was  without  cause  that  he 
was  charged  with  being  a  rebel,  since  never  had  he  had  any 
design  but  to  guarantee  peaceable  Frenchmen  from  the  violence 
of  strangers  who  abused  the  name  and  authority  of  the  king. 
His  death  was  constant  and  Christian.  He  was  a  gentleman 
held  in  high  esteem,  inasmuch  as  he  was  neither  avaricious  nor 
i-apacious,  but  on  the  contrary  devoted  to  religion,  bold,  moder- 
ate, upright ;  yet  he  was  too  indulgent  to  his  soldiers,  whose 
license  and  excesses  gained  him  much  ill-will  and  many  enemies 
in  Dauphiny.  His  death  so  irritated  these  soldiers  that  they 
ravaged  after  a  strange  fashion  the  environs  of  Grenoble."  ' 

The  death  of  so  pi-ominent  and  energetic  a  Huguenot  captain 
was  likely  to  embolden  the  Roman  Catholic  party,  not  only  in 
Dauphiny  but  in  the  rest  of  the  kin<rdom.'   In  reality 

LesdiguK-res.    .  i  r  i     i  i- 

it  only  transferred  the  supreme  direction  m  warlike 
affairs  to  still  more  competent  hands.  The  young  lieutenant  of 
Montbrun,  who  shortly  succeeded  him  in  command,  was  Fran9ois 
de  Bonne,  better  known  from  his  territorial  designation  as  Sieur 

'  Recueil  des  clioses  memorable!;,  547,  548.  See  Jean  de  Serres,  Commen- 
tarii,  v.  fols.  113-115  (I  need  not  remind  the  reader  tliat  the  two  accounts  are 
from  the  same  hand  .  Also  De  Thou,  v.  203.  204  ;  Davila,  212  ;  Lestoile,  ii. 
58;  Lansruet.  i.  129;  Inventaire  general,  ii.  485,  486, 

■Languet,  i.  114. 


70  THE  HUGUKNOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.         Ch.  I. 

de  Lesdiguieres,  a  future  marshal  of  Henry  the  Fourth.  Al- 
though the  resplendent  military  abilities  of  Lesdiguieres  had 
not  yet  had  an  opportunity  for  display,  it  was  not  long  before 
the  Roman  Catholics  discovered  that  they  gained  nothing  by 
the  exchange.  Lesdiguieres  was  as  brave  as  his  master  in 
arms,  and  he  was  his  master's  superior  in  the  skill  and  caution 
M'ith  which  he  sketched  and  executed  his  military  plans.  The 
discipline  of  the  Huguenot  army  at  once  exhibited  marked  im- 
provement.' 

Meanwhile  an  event  occurred  elsewhere  that  checked  the 
exultation  of  Henry,  and  threw  his  court  into  a  paroxysm  of 
confusion  and  alarm.  The  intelligence  reached  the  Louvre 
that  Alengon,  the  puny  brother  of  the  king,  the  disturber  of 
well-laid  schemes,  had  escaped  from  Paris,  and  was  on  his  way 
Aiencon'ses-  to  joiu  the  malcontcnts.'  Under  pretext  of  an  amor- 
court^and  ^us  iutrigue  he  had  been  allowed  to  visit  a  house  in 
tk>n!' septem-  ^he  suburbs ;  but  one  day  while  his  escort  patiently 
ber,  1575.  waited  f or  his  return  at  the  front  door  of  the  resi- 
dence of  his  mistress,  the  prince  quietly  took  horse  on  the  op- 
posite side  of  the  house  and  rode  off  southward  at  full  speed. 
A  day  or  two  later,  when  quite  beyond  reach  of  his  pursiiers, 
he  sat  down  and  indited  a  manifesto,  or  at  least  published  such 
a  paper  to  the  world,  in  which  he  declaimed  with  violence 
against  his  brother's  favorites,  and,  while  professing  the  inten- 
tion to  maintain  the  riglits  of  the  nobles  and  the  clergy,  prom- 
ised to  secure  those  of  the  people,  and  demanded  the  convoca- 
tion of  the  states  general.  Nothing  was  more  specious  than 
were  these  assurances.  The  only  difficulty  was  in  the  character 
of  him  that  uttered  them.  Could  the  selfish  boy,  who,  tired 
of  the  monotony  and  insignificance  of  his  position  at  court,  fled 


'  Reoueil,  De  Thou,  etc.,  ubi  supra. 

'  The  king  had,  some  weeks  earlier,  received  warning  of  such  a  plan,  and 
liad  brought  the  matter  before  the  royal  council ;  but  Catharine  expressed 
her  incredulit3',  and  advocated  that  Henry  should  rather  assure  himself  of 
his  brother  by  winning  his  heart.  His  Majesty  was  not  pleased  at  this. 
"Well,''  quoth  the  king,  "  it  is  you,  mother,  that  do  liold  him  up  by  the  chin, 
and  without  you  he  would  not  be  so  bold  as  he  is  ;  but  I  will  have  my  reason 
of  him."  Memorandum,  in  Dr.  Dale's  handwriting,  without  date,  but  seut 
from  Paris  in  the  summer  of  1575,  State  Paper  Office. 


1575. 


THE  WAR  CONTINUED. 


71 


to  the  arms  of  the  Protestants  and  Politiques,  be  really  in  ear- 
nest ?  Strange  as  it  may  appear,  many  of  the  best  citizens 
imagined  it  to  be  so.  Both  Ilugnenots  and  upright  Roman 
TheHuffuc-  CatlioHcs,  ignorant  of  Alengon's  true  nature,  suffered 
not3  duped,  tliemselves  to  be  amused  by  a  sheet  of  paper.  Some 
ministers  of  religion  went  further,  and,  in  the  churches  of  La 
Rochelle  and  Montauban,  public  thanksgiving  was  made  to 
God  over  the  happy  escape  of  the  prince  from  imprisonment. 
At  that  very  moment,  we  are  told,  Alengon  was  excusing  him- 
self at  Rome  and  trying  to  persuade  the  Pope  that  he  had  taken 
the  step  only  from  necessity. 

The  time  was  to  come  when  the  instincts  of  Catharine's 
youngest  son  would  be  fully  understood,  the  time  when  the 
pseudo-patriot  would  turn  out  to  be  an  arrant  coward,  with  no 
solicitude  save  for  his  own  petty  interests,  with  no  aptitude  ex- 
cept an  inherited  capacity  of  no  stinted  measure  for  dissimu- 
lation and  deceit.  When  that  time  arrived  it  was  not  unnat- 
ural for  the  Huguenots  to  pass  from  credulous  trust  to  the 
opposite  extreme  of  unreasonable  suspicion,  nor  was  it  strange 
that  they  came  to  believe  the  escape  of  Alen9on  from  court  to 
be  but  a  subtle  device  of  Catharine  to  lure  the  Protestants  on 
to  their  ruin.  The  queen  mother's  agitation  they  insisted  was 
assumed  only  for  the  moment ;  in  her  heart  she  rejoiced  that 
Alengon  would  soon  be  at  the  head  of  the  German  army  which 
Conde  and  Casimir  were  brino-ins',  at  so  great  a  cost 

Catharine's  Do'  o 

grief  gen-  of  troublc  and  treasure,  to  dictate  peace  at  the  gates 
of  Paris.  In  truth,  however,  this  conclusion  was  as 
ill-founded  as  the  first  hasty  rejoicing  was  premature.  Cath- 
arine's grief  was  sincere.  The  Florentine  envoy  was  no  heretic 
to  be  hoodwinked,  and  there  was  no  profit  to  be  derived  from 
deceiving  his  master  the  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany.  "We  may, 
therefore,  conclude  with  safety  that  Catharine  was  altogether 
unprepared  for  Alen9on's  escape  and,  at  first,  utterly  cast  down 
by  it.  Alamaimi  declared  that,  on  calling  upon  the  queen 
mother,  he  found  her  marvellously  depressed.  He  had  never 
seen  her  so  disheartened  by  any  occurrence  since  his  arrival  in 
France.  She  spoke  in  few  and  broken  words,  as  if  fearing  to 
touch  the  wound,  and,  almost  with  tears  in  her  eyes  and  appar- 


72 


THE  HUGUENOTS  A^^D  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE. 


Ch.  L 


ently  forgetful  of  her  royal  dignity,  declared  that  she  never 
would  have  thought  such  a  thing  possible.'  Meantime  the 
court  did  not  waste  its  time  in  useless  regrets.  The  union  of 
Alengon  with  Damville  and  the  Huguenots  made  a  formidable 
combination.  It  was  important  to  avoid  driving  the  younger 
Montmorencies  to  extremities.  So  Marshal  Francis,  the  head 
of  the  family,  was  formally  liberated  (on  the  second  of  October) 
from  the  imprisonment  in  which  he  had  been  languishing  for 
over  a  year.  After  a  few  days  more  of  hesitation,  the  king 
gave  him  audience,  greeted  him  with  warmth,  and  begged  him 
to  forget  past  injuries.'' 

Happy  had  been  the  lot  of  France  if  selfishness  had  been 
the  supreme  characteristic  of  Alengon  alone.  Unfortunately 
this  weak  prince  was  but  a  type  of  the  nobleman  of  the  period. 
In  the  incessant  contests  waged  between  the  privileged  classes, 
Wretched  '^^^^  wretclicd  "  tiers  etat  that  was  forced  to 
the^'-tiers***  ^^^^  brunt  of  all  the  misfortunes  befalling  the 

land.  "  It  will  be  found  in  the  end,"  says  the  cure 
of  Meriot,  "  that  the  seigneur  will  come  to  an  agreement  with 
the  king,  without  giving  himself  any  further  solicitude  for  the 


'  Alamanni  to  the  Grand  Duke,  September  22,  1575,  Negociations  avec  la 
Toscane,  iv.  45.  Dr.  Dale  says  almost  the  same  thing.  "  The  king  was  very 
heavy  and  sorrowful  and  the  queen  mother  as  one  dismayed.  They  spake 
both  very  lowly  for  their  degree.''  Letter  to  Smith  and  Walsingham,  Septem- 
ber 28,1575,  State  Paper  Office.  Recueil  des  choses  memorables,  550-553; 
Lestoile,  i.  60;  De  Thou,  v.  214,  215  ;  La  Fosse  (Journal  d'un  cure  ligueur), 
174;  Agrippa  d'Aubigno,  ii.  177,  178;  Jean  de  Serres,  v.  fols.  116,  seq.  ; 
Davila,  214.  The  correspondence  of  the  English  ambassador  gives  a  vivid  im- 
pression of  the  "  marvellous  perplexity ''  at  Paris— the  court  amazed,  the  king 
tormenting  himself  upon  his  bed,  the  chancellor  and  others  going  home  to 
utter  laments  over  the  untoward  incident  among  their  familiars,  all  men  find- 
ing fault  with  the  queen  mother,  because  she  was  the  let  that  Monsieur  was 
not  stayed,  almost  all  the  kings'  followers  booted  in  the  court,  and  those  that 
were  not  noted  as  not  read}'  to  do  loyal  service.  The  king  knew  not  what  to 
do,  fearing  that  his  troops  would  refuse  to  obey  any  of  the  generals  that  he 
might  send  to  reduce  Alencon  by  force  of  arms ;  fearing,  also,  that  should  lie 
go  in  person,  liis  troops  would  desert  him.  He  concluded,  however,  promptly 
to  send  to  his  fugitive  brother  the  plate,  jewels,  apparel,  household  stuff,  and 
servants  he  had  left  behind  him  in  his  precipitate  flight.  Dr.  Dale  to  Smith 
and  Walsingham,  September,  1575,  State  Paper  Office. 

^  Alamanni  to  the  Grand  Duke,  November,  1575,  Negociations,  iv.  47. 


1575. 


THE  WAR  CONTINUED. 


73 


general  weal,  especially  in  what  concerns  the  interest  of  the 
poor  people  of  the  towns  and  villages.  Such  is  the  condition 
of  the  princes  of  France  that  they  always  put  forward  the 
puhlic  welfare  when  they  desire  to  avenge  their  quarrels  upon 
each  other,  but  they  force  the  misei'able  commoner  to  endure 
tlie  discomfort  of  the  war,  under  the  burden  of  which  he  is 
overwhelmed,  and  in  return  he  gains  nothing  from  the  fine 
promises  made  by  the  princes.  Instead  of  the  relief  which 
they  promise  the  people,  they  open  the  door  to  all  sorts  of 
brigandage,  to  theft,  robbery,  and  assassination.  So  it  hap- 
pened at  this  time,  by  reason  of  Alengon's  declaration  and  pro- 
testation. In  consequence  of  the  prince's  withdrawal  from 
court,  for  the  security,  as  was  alleged,  of  his  own  person,  the 
war  was  rendered  worse  by  the  half  than  it  was  in  previous 
years  for  the  poor  laborers  and  villagers,  by  larcenj',  theft, 
extortion,  rape,  murder,  and  every  other  form  of  outi'age,  with- 
out rebuke  or  interposition  of  law  or  justice.  And  it  cannot  be 
otherwise  ;  for,  if  one  of  the  princes  that  are  at  war  with  each 
other  were  to  undertake  to  punish  the  armed  men  of  his 
party  for  the  injuries  they  commit,  instantly  all  his  followers 
would  leave  him  and  go  over  to  his  enemy,  and  he  would  thus 
remain  alone  and  without  support."  ' 

Claude  Haton  spoke  only  of  what  he  had  seen  with  his  own 
eyes  in  the  fertile  province  of  Champagne.  For  had  he  not 
witnessed  with  indignation  the  perfect  imconcern  with  which, 
for  example,  the  Duke  of  Aumale,  when  on  his  way  to  join  the 
Duke  of  Guise  and  help  to  repel  the  German  reiters,  had 
stopped  in  Provins  and  spent  a  day  in  playing  tennis  with  the 
nobles  of  the  place,  while  his  followers  scoured  the  neighbor- 
hood and  devoured  the  scanty  property  of  the  villagers,  depriv- 
ing them  even  of  the  very  necessaries  of  life?''  But  the  cu- 
rate's bitter  words  were  equally  true  of  a  great  part  of  France. 
The  reckless  prodigality  of  the  upper  and  ruling  classes  was 

>  Memoires  de  Claude  Haton,  ii.  782. 
Ibid.,  ii.  779.    The  reader  curious  to  know  the  heart-rending  details  of 
popular  suffering  may  study  the  document  printed  in  the  appendix  to  the 
same  work  (pages  1141-4),  entitled  "Remonstrances  tres  humbles  des  villes 
de  Troyes,  Reins,  Chaalons,"  etc. 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AKD  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.         Ch.  I. 


every  day  increasing  the  load  under  which  tlie  peasantry  stag- 
gered. ]S'ot  a  linger  was  raised  to  lighten  the  crushing  burden. 
"Lemanant  The  scoHiful  exclamatlon  had  passcd  into  a  proverb, 
payetout."  li  j^q  luauaut  paye  tout."'  None  dreamed  that  the 
rustic  clown  had  a  long  memory,  in  which  the  full  budget  of 
his  grievances,  through  the  centuries,  was  faithfully  stored  up, 
and  that  he  wo;;ld  one  day  importunately  demand  his  reckon- 
ing at  a  time  and  in  a  manner  very  distasteful  to  his  chronic 
debtor.  "  Le  manant  paye  toi;t,"  said  every  member  of  the 
privileged  orders,  from  the  king  down  to  the  most  insignificant 
baron  who  had  contrived  to  avoid  the  forfeiture  of  his  pre- 
scriptive rights,  that  would  have  resulted  from  engaging  in  the 
plebeian  pursuits  of  trade  or  manual  labor.  In  vain  did  the 
general  distress  call  forth  murmurs  from  all  parts  of  the  king- 
dom, cries  to  the  effect  that  the  king;  must  do  something  to  re- 
lieve  the  universal  distress,  loud  protests  from  Roman  Catho- 
lics that  those  under  the  protection  of  the  Huguenots  were 
better  treated  than  the  subjects  of  the  king  that  had  not  taken 
up  arms.'  Isever  had  the  court  been  more  thoughtless  of  the 
welfare  of  the  nation,  moi-e  wholly  given  up  to  riotous  excess. 
Serious- minded  men  stood  aghast,  superstitious  men  thought 
comiptionof  ^^^J  ^^^^  uubridlcd  licentiousness  of  the  times 

the  court.  sigus  of  the  approacliiug  end  of  all  things.  "  It  had 
seemed,"  said  they,  "  in  the  time  of  Charles  the  Isintli,  that  the 
dissoluteness  of  the  court  could  go  to  no  greater  lengths ;  but 
since  the  accession  of  Henry  the  Third,  and  especially  since  his 
marriage,  it  has  passed  all  bounds  and  become  so  outrageous 
that  all  that  was  once  practised  under  those  ancient  Roman 
emperors,  masters  of  corruption  and  detestable  lasciviousness, 
appears  now  to  be  revived.  To  specify  would  be  to  rehearse 
each  most  shameful  statement  contained  in  Suetonius,  Herodian, 
Lampridius,  and  other  similar  historians  of  antiquity."^ 

'  Dialogue  du  malieustre  et  du  manant,  in  Satyre  Menippee  (Ratisbon,  1726), 
iii.  551. 

'  "  Allegande  che  quelli  che  stanno  sotto  la  protezione  delli  ugonotti  sono 
meglio  trattati."  Alamanni  to  the  Grand  Duke,  1575,  Negociations  avec  la 
Toscane,  iv.  37. 

'  The  language  is  substantially  that  of  the  author  of  the  Recueil  des  choses 
memorables  (Dordrecht,  1598),  541. 


1575. 


THE  WAR  CONTINUED. 


75 


A  modern  may  well  beg  to  be  excused  from  giving  a  detailed 
account  of  enormities  from  a  recital  of  which  the  chronicler  of 
the  sixteenth  century  drew  back  in  horror  :  especially 

Puerile  ex-  '       i  ./ 

travagiince    iu  vlcw  of  the  fact  that  the  reference  to  the  strange 

and  lewdness.       .  .  _c     i   t        i  i 

mixture  oi  puerile  extravagance,  loul  lewdness,  and 
absurd  devotion  to  which  the  king  and  his  favorites  were  ad- 
dicted is  only  germane  to  the  theme  of  this  history  in  so  far  as 
light  may  be  thrown  upon  the  motives  of  the  policy  exercised 
toward  the  Hus;uenots.  Prudent  counsellors  had  no  standing 
witli  the  young  king.  Their  place  had  been  usurped  by  the 
wild  ministers  to  his  pleasures.  Among  such  bastard  statesmen 
loud  and  angry  disputes  passed  for  an  equivalent  of  rational 
discussion.  Low  broils  and  even  assassination  of  rivals,  whether 
in  political  or  in  amorous  intrigue,  abounded.  M.  du  Gast,  one 
of  the  chief  participators  in  the  bloody  scenes  of  St.  Bartholo- 
mew's Day,  was  found  dead  in  his  bed,  six  weeks  after  Alen- 
9on's  escape.  Although  the  instigator  of  the  murder  was 
shrewdly  suspected,  no  attempt  was  made  to  discover  and  pun- 
ish the  culprit.  Xone  the  less  did  the  king  indulge  in  extrava- 
gant displays  of  sorrow  at  the  death  of  -  his  favorite,  bury  him 
with  great  pomp  by  the  grand  altar  in  the  church  of  Saint  Ger- 
main I'Auxerrois,  and  assume  the  dead  man's  debts,  said  to 
amount  to  more  than  one  hundred  thousand  francs.'  A  few 
days  later,  the  monarch  so  recently  plunged  in  grief  was  seen 
in  his  "  coche,"  traversing  the  streets  of  Paris,  in  company  with 
Henry  and  ^lii^  jo^^ig  quccn,  visitiug  private  houses  and  especially 
his  dogs.  convents,  and  laying  his  hands  on  all  the  little  dogs 
of  a  certain  prized  breed  that  he  could  find."  Great  was  the 
annoyance  of  the  nuns  and  the  ladies  thus  robbed  of  their  pets  ; 
still  greater  the  indignation  of  the  more  sober  part  of  the  popu- 
lation at  the  ridicule  which  was  sure  to  attach  to  the  royal  name 
in  the  estimate  of  foreigners.  For  it  was  not  a  passing  whim 
that  led  Henry  to  lavish  upon  his  dogs  the  care  that  might 
advantageously  have  been  expended  upon  his  miserable  sub- 
jects.   Ten  years  later,  when  Chancellor  Leoninus  and  his  asso- 


'  Lestoile  (October  31,  1575),  i.  61. 
« Ibid.  (November,  1575),  i.  02. 


76 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HEXRY  OF  NAVARRE.         Ch.  L 


ciates  came  to  the  Louvre,  bringing  with  them  a  magnificent 
offer  to  Henry — nothing  less  than  the  sovereignty  of  the  Low 
Countries,  quite  equal  by  themselves  to  a  kingdom — even,  as  one 
diplomatist  dryly  remarks,  to  the  kingdom  of  Poland  ' — the  as- 
tonished envoys,  at  their  soleimi  reception,  found  the  monarch 
of  France  standing  in  the  midst  of  his  minions  with  "  a  little 
basket,  full  of  puppies,  suspended  from  his  neck  by  a  broad 
ribbon." '  Devout  Roman  Catholics  were  still  more  shocked 
when  they  beheld  Henry  nonchalantly  come  up  to  the  altar  to 
receive  the  consecrated  wafer,  after  having  frolicked  all  through 
the  service  of  the  mass  with  his  canine  companions ;  while  the 
sick  who  presented  themselves  to  be  touched  for  the  king's  evil 
scarcely  ever  saw  him  go  through  the  mystic  ceremonial  without 
a  dog  resting  upon  his  arms/ 

Meanwhile,  if  Henry  of  Yalois  was  sinking  into  effeminacy, 
surrounded  by  favorites  who  from  men  seemed  to  have  been 
changed  into  women,  in  another  part  of  France  at  least  one  of 
his  subjects,  laj-ing  aside  the  natural  timidity  of  her  sex,  had 
seized  the  sword  and  was  battling  for  her  faith  in  right  manly 
fashion.  The  virtuous  Madeleine  de  Miraumont,  sister  of  the 
Bishop  of  Le  Puy,  was  a  young  widow  of  large  possessions  in 
Auvergne  and  as  ardent  a  partisan  of  the  reformed  as  her 
brother  was  of  the  papal  cause.  It  was  not  a  difficult  matter 
for  a  woman  of  remarkable  beauty,  who  betrayed  no  marked 
preference  for  any  one  of  her  many  admirers,  to  gather  about 
her  a  band  of  gallant  young  noblemen.    "When  she  took  horse 

'  Morillon  to  Cardinal  Granvelle,  December  11,  1575,  Groen  van  Prinsterer, 
V.  326. 

■-'  See  the  graphic  account  of  the  interview  in  Jlotley,  United  Netherlands, 
i.  96. 

^  "II  recevoit  Dieu,  qui  scait  en  quelle  conscience!  Car,  ou  tout  affuble,  ou 
tenant  xm  chien,  ou  ayant  folastre,  tout  duraut  la  messe,  quelquefois  avec  des 
chiens,  il  s'y  presentoit  hardiment.  Aussi  touchoit-il  les  escrouelles  presque 
toujours  charge  d"un  chien  sur  im  bras."  Les  moeurs,  humeurs  et  eom- 
portemens  de  Henry  de  Valois  (1589),  Cimber  et  Danjou,  Archives  curieuses, 
xii.  468.  Henry's  irreverence  on  such  occasions  was  of  less  importance  if,  as 
the  writer  of  another  libellous  tract  asserts,  this  monarch,  in  consequence  of 
the  fact  that,  at  his  anointing,  the  "  sainte  ampoule  "  was  not  disposed  "  as 
usual,  never  acquired  the  inestimable  prerogative  of  curing  the  king's  evil. 
La  vie  et  fails  notables  de  Henry  de  Valois,  Archives  curieuses,  xii  492. 


1575. 


THE  WAR  CONTINUED. 


77 


in  person,  armed  cap-a-pie,  full  sixty  knights  gladly  enrolled 
themselves  under  her  banner,  which,  to  use  the  expression  of  an 
appreciative  historian,  they  esteemed  to  be  no  less  the  standard  of 
love.  With  such  a  following,  the  exploits  of  the  fair  Amazon 
were  as  extraordinary  as  her  warfare  was  novel.  Isot  only  did 
she  repeatedly  defeat  superior  forces  of  the  enemy,  but  when 
besieged  in  her  own  castle  by  M.  de  Montal,  royal  lieutenant 
for  Lower  Auvergne,  she  boldly  charged  the  Roman  Catholics 
with  scarce  two  score  cavaliers,  turning  them  into  flight  and 
mortally  wounding  their  leader.  No  wonder  that,  in  after 
times,  as  often  as  the  Huguenot  gentlemen  from  other  parts  of 
the  kingdom  would  undertake  in  playful  banter  to  reproach 
their  comrades  of  Auvergne  with  having  been  soldiers  of  the 
Lady  of  Miraumont,  the  Auvergnese  accepted  the  intended 
taunt  as  a  compliment  and  bewailed  the  misfortune  of  those 
whom  fortune  had  denied  the  privilege  of  so  honorable  a 
service.' 

To  add  to  the  coniusion  reigning  throughout  France  there 
came  the  report  of  the  approach  of  foreign  arms.    The  Prince 
of  Conde  had  prevailed  upon  the  elector  palatine  and 

Foreign  help  -  'i  tt 

for  the  Hu-  his  SOU  agaui  to  give  the  iiuguenots  a  much-needed 
support.^  Duke  John  Casimir  promised  to  enroll 
a  considerable  force,  consisting  of  eight  thousand  reiters  (two 
thousand  in  his  own  name  and  the  rest  in  the  name  of  Conde) 
and  eight  thousand  Swiss  foot  soldiers.  The  invading  army  was 
to  be  provided  with  a  supply  of  artillery,  regarded,  according  to 
the  notions  of  the  sixteenth  century,  as  quite  sufficient — four 
large  cannon,  and  twelve  or  fifteen  field-pieces,  and  an  abun- 
dant store  of  ammunition.  On  his  side,  the  prince  engaged  that 
Marshal  Damville  would  raise  and  bring  from  Languedoc  a 
force  of  twelve  thousand  foot  and  two  thousand  horse.  The 
treaty  now  signed  included  provisions  to  the  effect  that  Jolm 
Casimir  should  be  consiilted  upon  all  questions  of  peace  and 
war,  and  that  the  claims  of  his  German  troops  for  wages  should 


'  Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  ii.  164. 

'  See  Conde's  long  letter  to  John  Casimir  respecting  the  cause.s  of  the  war, 
Jean  de  Serres,  v.  fols.  123-127. 


78 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.         Ch.  I. 


be  paid  in  full  before  tlieir  final  discbarge.  It  was  also  stipu- 
lated that  John  Casimir  should  sign  the  compact  existing  be- 
tween Damville  and  the  Protestants,  and  that  an  essential  arti- 
cle of  any  future  treaty  of  peace  with  the  King  of  France 
should  be  that  John  Casimir  be  placed  in  command  of  the  three 
bishoprics — Metz,  Toul,  and  Yerdun — as  royal  governor.' 

It  was  always  the  misfortune  of  the  Huguenots  that  their 
geographical  distribution  was  such  as  to  separate  them  from 
their  allies  by  wide  distances.  Between  the  German  frontier 
and  the  provinces  in  which  the  Protestants  were  numerous,  in- 
tervened other  provinces  in  which  the  Protestants  had  little 
or  no  foothold.  In  its  consternation  at  the  sudden  flight  of 
Alengon,  the  court  had  not  forgotten  to  take  measures  for  pre- 
venting that  prince,  so  far  as  possible,  from  obtaining  the  sup- 
port of  the  nobility,  and  had  renewed  its  efforts  to  intercept 
any  assistance  from  abroad.  Unfortunately,  the  leaders  of  the 
Huguenot  army  of  reinforcement  made  the  capital  mistake  of 
dividing  their  troops.  Since  John  Casimir  was  not  yet  ready 
to  march  with  the  main  body,  they  permitted  Thore-Montmo- 
rency  to  lead  a  detachment  to  the  help  of  his  brother,  Dam- 
ville. Thore's  entire  force  consisted  of  only  twelve  or  fifteen 
liundred  German  horse,  with  a  few  mounted  French  gentlemen, 
and  five  hundred  arquebusiers.  It  was  sheer  madness  to  attempt, 
with  such  insignificant  numbers,  to  penetrate  so  far  through 


'  Recueil  des  clioses  mcmorables,  554  ;  Jean  de  Serres,  v.  fols.  127-129  ;  De 
Thou,  V.  217.  See  the  text  of  the  treaty,  published  for  the  first  time  in  full, 
from  that  one  of  the  two  extant  copies  which  was  sent  by  the  elector  palatine 
to  the  magistrates  of  Geneva,  by  Henri  Fazj-,  Geneve,  le  Parti  Huguenot  et  le 
Traite  de  Soleure,  146-157.  The  treaty  is  dated  November  27,  1575  ;  the 
elector  palatine's  letter  four  days  later.  The  Duke  of  Aumale  (Histoire  des 
Princes  de  Conde,  ii.  110),  with  true  French  pride,  stigmatizes  the  agreement 
as  odious,  and  its  provisions  as  both  absurd  and  impossible  of  execution.  He 
hardly  knows  which  to  admire  most — the  extravagance  of  the  palatine's 
claims,  or  the  simplicity  wherewith  he  seems  to  accept  the  chimerical  en- 
gagements of  his  Huguenot  allies.  Without  going  to  this  length,  we  may 
certainly  be  permitted  to  deplore  the  necessity  to  which  the  French  Protest- 
ants were  driven  by  the  fur}'  of  their  enemies,  of  calling  in,  like  their  Ro- 
man Catholic  fellow  citizens,  the  help  of  foreign  troops,  and  of  exposing 
themselves  to  the  taunt  of  caring  less  for  the  integrity  of  their  country's 
territory  than  for  their  religious  privileges. 


1575. 


THE  WAR  CONTINUED. 


79 


a  region  in  which  defensible  elevations  abounded,  which  was 
intersected  by  rivers,  and  whose  population  was  in  arms  to  pre- 
clude the  passage.'  When  to  these  difficulties  was  added  the 
fact  that,  while  the  Germans  had  an  inexperienced  leader,  and 
soon  were  mutinous  for  the  payment  of  their  wages,  the  court 
had  collected  a  greatly  superior  force  ^  to  oppose  their  entrance, 
under  such  skilled  captains  as  Henry  of  Guise,  his  brother,  the 
Duke  of  Mayenne,  Armand  de  Biron,  and  Philip  Strozzi,  no 
wonder  that  the  expedition  ended  in  disaster.  After  having 
suffered  great  annoyance  from  the  skirmishing  attacks  of  the 
enemy,  Thore  was  met  and  signally  defeated,  on  the  tenth  of 
October,  upon  the  banks  of  the  Marne,  not  far  from  Chateau 
Thierry.  It  was  with  difficulty  that  the  incompetent  young 
Defeat  of  i^iau,  witli  a  haudful  of  his  reiters,  succeeded  in  ex- 
Thore.  tricatiug  himself  from  the  meshes  of  his  enemies  and 
joining  Alengon  at  La  Chatre,  after  a  break-neck  ride  of 
seventy  leagues.  On  the  other  hand,  Henry  of  Guise  fought 
bravely,  received  a  severe  wound  in  the  cheek,  and  fell  to  the 
ground  half  dead.  The  honorable  scar  (balafre)  borne  by 
him  to  the  day  of  his  death  was  the  occasion  of  the  epithet  of 
"  Le  balafre,"  by  which  his  followers  gloried  in  designating 
him.^  The  loss  on  the  Protestant  side,  if  small  in  killed,  was 
great  in  the  number  of  wounded. 


'  So  it  appeared  to  Hubert  Languet,  himself  a  Bungundian  by  birth,  when 
he  first  lieard  of  the  design.  "Via  est  adeo  longa  et  adeo  impedita  inontibus 
et  fluminibus,  ut  putem  pcene  esse  impossible  ut  eo  perveniant  quo  constitue- 
runt,  cum  praesertim  dicantur  esse  tantum  duomillia  et  paucos  peditessint  se- 
cum  habituri  et  forte  duces  imperitos.  Nam  audio  ipsorum  ducem  praecipu- 
um  fore  Thoraium,  filium  connestabilis  natu  minimum."    Epistolae  secretae, 

i.  (2)  124.  It  would  appear,  however,  that  Languet  was  misinformed  respect- 
ing the  route  Thore  was  to  take,  and  supposed  he  would  traverse  Burgundy 
instead  of  Champagne. 

- 10,000  to  12,000  foot,  and  1,200  horse,  besides  the  troops  sent  by  the  Dukes 
of  Uzes  and  Montpensier. 

^  Lestoile  (under  date  of  October  11th),  i.  61  ;  Memoires  de  Claude  Haton, 

ii.  789;  Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  ii.  179-183;  Jean  de  >Serres,  v.  fols.  140,  141; 
De  Thou,  V.  221,  222;  Kecueil  des  choses  memorables,  r)5G.  See  also  tlie  ac- 
count of  the  "Skirmish  between  the  Reiters  and  Guise,"  sent  by  Dale  to  Bur- 
leigh, October  11,  1575,  State  Paper  Office.  Agrippa  d'Aubigno  devotes  an 
entire  chapter  to  this  engagement,  which  he  calls  "  Defifaitte  de  Dormans" — 


80 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE. 


Cn.  I. 


Meanwhile,  Catliarine  de'  Medici  had  forgotten  none  of  the 
arts  by  means  of  which  she  had,  single-handed,  more  than  once 
frustrated  the  well-devised  counsels  of  statesmen  and  the  care- 
fully-laid schemes  of  war.  In  carrying  into  execution  her  in- 
trigues she  had  never  been  sparing  of  time,  fatigue,  or  expos- 
ure. She  now  left  Henry  to  his  puerile  occupations  and  his 
dogs,  while  she  posted  to  Touraine  to  confer  with  Alengon,  and 
was  rewarded  by  her  success  in  patching  up  a  hollow  truce.  It 
A  hollow  ^^^^  ^^^^  about  seven  months,'  and  the  conditions 
truce.  were  very  favorable  to  her  youngest  son — among 
other  things,  payment  to  the  Germans,  and  the  transfer  of  six 
places  of  security — Angonleme,  Isiort,  Saiunur,  Bourges,  and 
La  Charite  to  the  Duke  of  Alengon,  and  Mezieres  to  the 
Prince  of  Conde."  But,  after  all,  the  truce  amounted  to  little 
or  nothing.  Conde  and  John  Casimir  refused  to  ratify  the  ar- 
rangements, and  neither  the  court  nor  xVlengon  took  the  trouble 
to  observe  it.  As  the  queen-mother  had  had  no  other  end  in 
view  than  to  prevent  or  delay  the  entrance  of  John  Casimir  into 
France,  there  remained  nothing  to  be  done  for  the  present  but 
to  oppose  him  with  an  armed  force  of  mercenary  troops.  For 
by  December  the  army  of  John  Casimir,  which  recognized  the 
Prince  of  Conde's  joint  authority,  had  swollen  in  size,  and  in- 
cluded ten  thousand  liorse,  six  thousand  Swiss,  two  thousand 
lansquenets,  and  three  thousand  French  arquebusiers.  It  was 
only  waiting  in  the  neighborhood  of  Saverne  to  receive  tidings 
of  the  advance  of  Damville  with  troops  and  ready  money.' 

Hereupon  Henry  ordered  a  levy  of  six  thousand  Swiss  and 
made  arrangements  for  a  suitable  niimber  of  Germans.  But  a 
levy  required  money,  and  of  money  he  had  none.    So  the  king 


Dormans  is  ten  or  twelve  miles  east  of  Chateau  Thierry — and  remarks,  some- 
what hyperbolically,  that  the  battle  is  "  presque  inconnue  a  tousceux  qui  ont 
escrit,  et  de  ceux  qui  I'ont  veue  estimee  plus  digne  du  nom  de  bataille  que 
plusieurs  a  qui  on  a  donne  ce  titre." 
'  November  22,  1575,  to  June  25, 1576. 

-  Recueil  des  choses  memorables,  558  ;  De  Thou,  v.  222 ;  Jean  de  Serres,  v. 
fols.  143,  144;  Davila,  216  ;  Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  ii.  178,  179  ;  "Accord  be- 
tween Monsieur  and  the  Queen  Mother,"  Magny,  November  8,  1575,  State  Pa- 
per Office. 

"  Recueil  des  uhoses  memorables,  559. 


1575. 


THE  WAR  CONTINUED. 


SI 


betook  himself  to  the  Hotel  de  Yille,  and  begged  tlie  city  of 
Paris  to  furnish  him  with  two  hundred  thousand  livres  where- 
with to  hire  the  troops  that  might  defend  the  citi- 
of  the  king  to  zeus  agaiust  the  dreaded  Huguenots.  But  the  pru- 
raise  money.  ^^^^  mercliauts  of  the  Capital  were  more  suspicious  of 
the  king,  who  seemed  to  have  instituted  from  close  at  hand  an 
irreconcilable  war  against  their  purses,'  than  afraid  of  Conde 
and  John  Casimir,  who  were  yet  a  good  distance  off.  Instead  of 
money  came  an  answer  in  the  foi'm  of  a  vexatious  array  of 
figures.  The  burghers  broadly  hinted  that  the  king  wanted 
their  hard-earned  gold  for  his  favorites  rather  than  for  his 
armies,  and  they  very  distinctly  pointed  out  the  bottomless 
abyss  of  the  king's  prodigality,  which  no  wealth  of  theirs  could 
hope  to  fill.  Paris  had,  in  the  past  fifteen  years,  furnished  the 
crown  with  thirty-six  millions  of  livres,  besides  the  sixt}'  millions 
contributed  by  the  clergy.  What  was  there  to  show  for  an 
enormous  expenditure  which,  rightly  applied,  might  have  se- 
cured the  extension  of  the  kingdom  by  lawful  conquest  ? 
France  had  gained  no  honors ;  it  had  only  incurred  the  ridicule 
of  strangei'S.  Other  remarks  there  were,  equally  distasteful  to 
the  king,  on  the  universal  corruption  of  clergy  and  judiciary, 
and  the  wastefulness  pervading  every  branch  of  the  administra- 
tion.^ It  is  not  surprising  that  Henry  was  provoked  beyond 
endurance.  He  adopted,  however,  a  strange  method  of  revenge. 

Bringing  the  roval  troops  to  the  immediate  vicinitv, 

Henry's  i  •  "        •  i     i  .       t    •  •  o    •  -r>. 

whimsical  he  posted  (juise  with  his  division  at  feaint  Denis, 
revenge.  Birou  at  Moutiiiartre,  Retz  at  Charenton,  and  so  on, 
encircling  the  city  in  every  direction,  and  compelled  the  citizens 
who  had  refused  him  ready  money  for  his  levies — or  his  favor- 
ites—to loosen  their  close-drawn  purse-striiigs  for  the  payment 
of  the  beleaguering  forces."* 


'  "  Ita  peroratio  semper  de  pecunia  erat  et  Parisiorum  criimenis  bellum  iu- 
dicebatur."    Jean  de  Serres,  v.  fol.  165. 

-  Recueil  des  choses  memorables,  560  ;  Jean  de  Serres,  v.  fols.  153,  158  ; 
Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  ii.  217-219  ;  De  Thou,  v.  223,  224. 

^The  incident  is  detailed  by  Jean  de  Serres,  v.  159;  Recneil  des  choses 
memorables,  561,  and  luveutaire  gt-nural,  ii.  491.  It  is  not  mentioned  by  De 
Thou. 

Vol.  I.— 0 


82 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AXD  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE. 


Ch.  I. 


Isever  had  France  presented  a  scene  of  greater  inconsisten- 
cies and  more  widespread  confusion  than  it  did  about  this  time. 
General  con-  Everywhere  deceit  and  contradictory  purposes  seemed 
fusion.  j.gign.    The  king  had  made  a  truce,  and  was  pre- 

paring for  war.  Alen9on  chose  almost  the  same  moment  for 
the  publication  of  the  armistice  in  his  court  and  for  the  con- 
firmation of  the  agreements  entered  into  by  Co'nde  with  John 
Casimir ; '  and,  while  he  assured  the  Pope  of  his  unimpeach- 
able orthodoxy  and  upright  intentions,  was  begging  the  Prot- 
estant city  of  La  Rochelle  to  furnish  him  money,  and  assever- 
ating his  purpose  to  espouse  the  quarrels  of  the  Keformed 
Church  of  France.''  Meanwhile,  this  excellent  prince  and 
worthy  son  of  Catharine  de'  Medici  took  possession  of  such  of 
the  cities  pledged  to  him  as  consented  to  admit  his  troops,  and 
accepted  the  substitutes  offered  for  the  other  cities  wliose  au- 
dacious governors  defiantly  refused  to  obey  the  king's  com- 
mands, troubling  himself  little  about  the  failure  of  the  court  to 
fulfil  its  engagement  to  entrust  Mezieres  to  the  Prince  of 
Conde.' 

In  fact,  the  only  compact  about  whose  honest  observance 
any  solicitude  was  exhibited  was  an  agreement  made,  not  by 
The  truce  of  ^ings  or  princes,  but  by  the  untitled  inhabitants  of  a 
vivarais.  small  proviucc.  The  people  of  Vivarais — that  frag- 
ment of  Languedoc,  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Klione,  of  which 
Yiviers  was  the  most  considerable  town — were  wearied  of  the 
relentless  progress  of  a  confiict  raging  at  their  very  hearths. 
Here  had  the  misery  of  the  civil  war  become  most  conspicuous 
because  the  drama  was  seen  enacted  on  so  contracted  a  stage. 
There  were  two  governors  of  Languedoc,  both  claiming  royal 
appointment :  the  Protestants  respected  the  authority  of  Mar- 
shal Damville,  the  Roman  Catholics  the  authority  of  the  Due 
d'Uzes.    Under  the  governor  of  Languedoc,  the  Protestants 


'  The  truce  was  proclaimed  in  Alengon's  court,  December  23, 1575,  according 
to  De  Thou,  v.  227,  228.  Alengon  confirmed  Conde's  engagements,  December 
22,  1575,  according  to  Jean  de  Serres,  v.  fol.  152,  153. 

The  self-reliant  and  prudent  city  reluctantly  made  Alen9on  a  present  of 
10,000  francs.    Lestoile,  63  ;  De  Thou,  v.  228,  239. 

3  Ibid.,  V.  227,  228. 


1575. 


THE  WAR  CONTINUED. 


83 


obeyed  two  lieutenants,  Pierregourde  and  Ciigieres,  governors 
of  the  upper  and  lower  divisions  of  Vivarais  respectively ; 
while  the  Roman  Catholics  recognized  Du  Bourg  as  governor 
of  the  whole  district.  Each  party  had  its  own  provincial 
estates.  Some  of  the  towns  held  for  the  Protestants,  some  for 
the  Koman  Catholics.  Four  thousand  soldiers,  living  in  idle-  i 
ness,  not  only  consumed  the  scanty  resources  of  the  inhabi- 
ants,  but  inflicted  on  them  a  thousand  insolences  such  as  troops 
are  wont  to  indulge  in  when  unrestrained  by  strict  discipline. 
Agriculture  and  trade  were  suspended.  Townsmen  and  vil- 
lagers alike  groaned  under  their  burdens,  while  the  military 
leaders  alone  made  light  of  grievances  in  which  they  found  a 
source  of  profit  for  themselves.  Under  these  circiiinstances  the 
people  took  tlie  matter  into  their  own  hands.  Men  of  both  re-  ^ 
ligious  communions,  deputed  by  the  two  provincial  estates, 
came  together,  and,  after  mature  deliberation,  entered  into  a 
compact  for  mutual  protection.  The  document  setting  forth 
this  agreement  is  so  singular,  and  has  been  so  little  noticed  by 
historians,  that  its  contents  must  be  alluded  to.  It  began  by  a 
joint  profession  of  loyalty.  Both  parties  declared  that  they 
persevered  constantly  iu  their  obedience  to  Henry,  and  recog- 
nized as  his  representatives,  the  Roman  Catholics  the  Due 
d'Uzes,  the  Protestants  Marshal  Damville.  They  maintained 
that  their  sole  aim  in  taking  the  present  step  was  to  ward  off 
disaster  from  their  common  country.  The  Protestants,  in  par- 
ticular, solemnly  afiirmed  that,  in  the  new  league  into  which 
dire  necessity  had  driven  them  to  enter,  they  had  no  intention 
of  forsaking  the  common  alliance  of  the  Reformed  Churches  of 
France.  After  this  preamble  the  terms  of  the  truce  were 
given.  "  All  hostile  attempts,  either  by  open  force  of  arms  or 
by  secret  counsels,  shall  henceforth  cease  within  the  bounds 
of  Vivarais.  Xo  one,  whether  native-born  or  stranger,  shall 
be  exposed  to  any  danger.  No  injury  shall  be  done  by  any 
one,  whosoever  he  be,  to  agriculture  or  commerce,  to  persons 
or  property.  Xo  hostile  attack  shall  be  made  against  the 
cities ;  there  shall  be  no  hostile  gatherings,  no  inroads  into  the 
country.  Discord  having  been  allayed,  there  shall  be  free  in- 
tercourse between  the  towns  and  the  country.    Whoever  shall 


84 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE. 


Cu.  I. 


do  otherwise,  shall  be  held  an  eueiiiy,  and  shall  be  punished  as 
a  plunderer  and  a  disturber  of  the  public  peace,  according  to 
the  severity  of  the  laws,  with  the  unanimous  consent  of  all  the 
orders."  There  were  other  provisions,  respecting  the  remission 
of  unpaid  taxes,  the  release  of  prisoners,  the  restoration  of 
cattle,  and  the  diminution  of  garrisons.  The  treaty  was  to  be 
submitted  for  approval  by  both  sides  to  the  governors  whom 
they  recognized,  and  indeed  to  the  king  himself ;  but,  even 
should  it  ultimately  be  found  impossible  to  secure  their  sanc- 
tion, no  recourse  was  to  be  had  to  arms  until  the  expiration  of 
at  least  a  month's  interval  after  due  notice  of  the  failure.  As 
to  any  nobles  or  cities  that  might  decline  to  endorse  the  com- 
pact, both  Protestants  and  Iloman  Catholics  agreed  to  proceed 
against  them  in  arms,  as  enemies  of  their  common  country  and 
unworthy  of  the  common  alliance.' 

Great  as  was  the  delight  of  the  wretched  burghers  and  peas- 
ants of  Vivarais  ;  equally  great  was  the  indignation  of  the  king, 
of  both  governors,  in  fact  of  every  captain  and  scheming  pub- 
lic man  interested  in  the  war.  Even  some  of  the  neio'liborins^ 
Protestant  churches  complained  of  the  irregularity  of  the  action 
of  their  brethren,  in  thus  providing  for  their  own  safety.  As 
for  the  royalists,  they  saw  in  the  movement  a  dangerous  inno- 
vation, the  introduction  of  an  "  imperium  in  imperio,"  threat- 
ening the  royal  authority.  It  was  from  such  beginnings,  for- 
sooth, that  the  Swiss  cantons  had  thrown  off  the  yoke  of  their 
princes,  claimed  popular  liberty,  and  founded  commonwealths 
of  their  own.  There  was  an  end  to  all  possibility  of  carrying 
on  war,  if  money  could  be  refused  by  the  people.  Meanwhile 
the  truce  of  Vivarais  boi-e  wholesome  fruit  in  the  relief  of  the 
impoverished  inhabitants,  now  freed  from  the  presence  of  the 
greater  part  of  the  late  garrisons,  and  in  the  revival  of  trade 
and  husbandry.'' 

If  the  compact  between  the  Protestants  and  the  Roman  Catho- 
lics had  been  remarkable  for  its  origin,  it  was  still  more  notable 
for  the  honorable  observance  of  its  conditions.  Geydan,  a  neigh- 


'  Jean  de  Serres,  v.  fols.  167-170  ;  De  Tliou,  v.  304,  305. 
'  Jean  de  Serres,  ubi  .supra. 


157(5. 


THE  WAR  CONTINUED. 


85 


boring  Huguenot  captain  of  great  activity,  much  given  to  bold 
enterprises,  conceived  the  notion  of  taking  advantage  of  the 
security  felt  by  the  Eoinan  Catholic  garrison  of  Vi- 
able observ-  viers,  and  made  a  sudden  and  successful  attack  upon 
ance.  rjy^^Q  Rouiau  CatlioHcsat  once  carriedtothe  Protes- 

tants their  complaints  because  of  this  infraction  of  the  treaty. 
The  Protestants  disclaimed  all  complicity  in  a  movement 
which  had  originated  beyond  the  boundaries  of  the  province, 
but  promised  to  execute  their  engagements  to  the  letter.  They 
summoned  Geydan  to  surrender  his  prize  and  withdraw  from 
Vivarais ;  and,  when  he  returned  an  insolent  answer  and  vindi- 
cated his  action  as  legitimate,  they  promptly  began  prepara- 
tions, in  conjunction  with  the  Poman  Catholics,  to  expel  him  by 
force.  Happily,  however,  Geydan  was  persuaded  by  his  friends 
to  recede  from  his  position,  and  the  town  of  Viviers  w^as  re- 
stored to  the  Roman  Catholics.  It  was,  indeed,  a  signal  instance 
of  good  faith  in  a  perfidious  age.' 

Henry  of  !Kavarre  chose  this  time  of  general  confusion  to 
make  his  escape.  For  nearly  four  years  had  he  been  detained 
The  king  of  ''^■tthe  royal  court.  Ever  since  his  bloody  nuptials  he 
rapet'^7rom  ^^^^  bccn,  to  all  appcaraucc,  a  sufficiently  devout  Ro- 
court.  ijjan  Catholic.  Yet,  if  he  occasionally  attended  mass 
and  exhibited  no  very  great  desire  again  to  listen  to  Hugueiiot 
preaching,  he  was  as  loose  in  his  ideas  of  morality  as  most  of 
the  young  nobles  of  the  day.  In  ignoble  rivalry  with  Alen9on 
and  Guise  for  the  good  graces  of  Madame  de  Sauve,  the  Bear- 
nese  seemed  utterly  to  have  forgotten  the  quarrel  of  the  religion 
of  his  mother,  and  of  his  own  childhood,  as  well  as  the  interests 
of  the  party  of  which  he  was  the  natural  head.  "  The  King  of 
Navarre  was  never  so  merry  nor  so  much  made  of,"  wrote  the 
English  ambassador,  just  after  Alen9on's  stealthy  withdrawal 
from  Paris.^  His  neglect  of  his  Huguenot  conn-ades  in  arms 
was,  however,  more  apparent  than  real.    He  was  only  abiding 


'  Jean  de  Serres  (who  gives  the  date  of  the  restoration  as  February  27, 1576), 
V.  fols.  172,  173;  Recueil  des  choses  raemorables,  505,  5(56  ;  De  Thou,  v.  306, 
307. 

'  Dale  to  Burleigh,  September  28,  1575,  State  Paper  Office. 


86 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.         Ch.  I. 


the  time  to  break  his  prison  bars  and  seek  more  congenial  asso- 
ciations. The  opportunity  he  sought  at  last  arrived.  Henry  of 
Navarre  had  prudently  dissembled  his  indignation  at  the  hu- 
miliating position  he  was  forced  to  occupy  at  court.  Little  fear 
was  entertained  that  he  might  venture  on  the  dangerous  attempt 
to  make  his  way  to  his  distant  friends.  lie  was  therefore  per- 
mitted to  indulge  in  his  favorite  pastime  of  the  chase  with  the 
less  suspicion,  because,  as  he  customarily  resorted  in  the  direc- 
tion of  Senlis  and  Chantilly,  places  north  of  Paris,  the  capital 
lay  between  him  and  the  only  practicable  line  of  flight.  Of  the 
freedom  thus  obtained  he  made  good  use.  Early  in  February, 
1576,  having  contrived  to  rid  himself  of  those  who  had  been 
placed  about  him  to  watch  his  movements,  he  suddenly  started 
M'ith  a  few  trusty  horsemen,  and  making  a  wide  circuit  to  avoid 
Paris,  crossed  the  Seine  near  Poissy.  So  prompt  had  been  his 
actions  that,  before  his  enemies  were  fully  aware  of  his  design, 
he  was  beyond  pursuit.  Avoiding  the  highways  on  which  he 
might  have  been  stopped,  he  reached  the  city  of  Alen9on,  and 
thence  made  his  way  with  little  delay  to  Saumur  and  placed  the 
Loire  between  himself  and  the  court.'  Once  safe  and  within 
easy  distance  of  his  Protestant  allies,  Henry,  who  had  thus  far 
been  taciturn  beyond  his  wont,  raised  his  eyes  to  heaven  and 
exclaimed  :  "  Praised  be  God  who  has  delivered  me !  They  killed 
the  queen,  my  mother,  in  Paris.  There,  too,  they  slew  the  ad- 
miral and  all  my  best  servants,  and  they  intended  to  do  the 
same  by  me.  Is  ever  shall  I  return  unless  I  be  dragged  thither." 
And  then,  resuming  his  usual  cheery  tone,  he  assured  his  suite, 
with  a  good-natured  laugh,  that  he  had  left  in  Paris  only 


'  Dale  to  the  secretaries,  February  6,  1576,  State  Paper  Office.  Agrippa 
d'Aubignc,  who  both  planned  and  accompanied  Henry  s  Hight,  gives  by  far 
the  fullest  account  in  his  Histoire  universelle,  ii.  183-189,  supplemented  by 
hisMemoires,  482,  483.  See  also  Memoires  de  Sully,  chap.  vii.  ;  Davila,  217, 
218  ;  Jean  de  Serres,  v.  fol.  KiG  ;  Recueil  de  choses  memorables,  564,  565 ; 
De  Thou,  V.  304.  Alamanni's  letter  announcing  to  the  Tuscan  court  the  es- 
cape of  Navarre  "yesterday"  (Negociations  avec  la  Toscane,  iv.  40)  must  have 
been  dated  February  4th,  and  not  1st.  The  account  of  a  recent  writer  (Miss 
Freer,  Henry  III.,  ii.  83),  who  makes  Henry,  in  his  escape,  fir.st  cross  the  Seine 
and  subsequently  flee  to  La  Fere  and  thence  to  Veudome,  is  singularly  in- 
volved. 


1570. 


THE  WAR  CONTINUED. 


87 


two  things  that  he  regretted — the  mass  and  the  queen  his  wife 
— the  latter  he  would  have  again,  the  former  he  would  try  to 
do  without.'  The  King  of  Xavarre  had  not  waited  to  reach  the 
Loire  before  renouncing  the  outward  profession  of  the  faith  that 
had  been  forced  upon  him.  At  Alen9on  he  stood  godfather 
for  a  Protestant  child,"  and  the  little  court  of  Henry  at  Saumur 
and  Thouars  resounded  once  more  svith  the  sermons  of  Hugue- 
not preachers.  If  Henry  himself  and  his  chief  adherents  showed 
little  evidence  of  fervent  religious  feeling,  and  were  not  seen  at 
the  solemn  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  according  to  the 
rites  of  the  Reformed  Church,  the  reason  may  be  found  with 
quite  as  great  probability  in  the  worldly  engrossments  of  the 
king  himself  as  in  any  alleged  intrigue  of  the  Duke  of  Alen9on 
to  prevent  Isavarre  from  supplanting  him  in  the  esteem  of  the 
Huguenot  party." 

Meantime  the  auxiliaries  whom  the  Prince  of  Conde  had 
been  at  such  pains  to  collect  w'ere  steadily  making  their  w  aj 
into  the  heart  of  the  kingdom,  in  perfect  contempt  for  the 
truce  concluded  between  Catharine  de'  Medici  and 

Entrance  of  t       .    .  i        t   i  i  i 

the  Germans  her  vouiioiest  SOU,  aud  ffiviug;  not  the  sliglitest  heed 

into  France.  ,       i  ,         *t  ni         -,  i,. 

to  the  letters  that  Alengon  pretended  to  despatch  for 
the  purpose  of  preventing  their  march.  The  expedition,  John 
Casimir  informed  the  king,  in  most  polite  terms,  was  not  in- 
tended against  his  Majesty's  person.  "  It  is  directed,"  said  he, 
"  against  the  murderers  and  persecutors  of  our  true  religion, 
and  in  general  against  those  who  create  commotion  and  work 


'  Lestoile,  i.  G6. 

^  Ibid.,  i.  66  ;  Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  ii.  188.  Tlie  latter  mentions  the  coin- 
cidence that,  at  the  Huguenot  on  tlie  morrow  after  Henry's  arrival,  the 
21.st  Psalm  was  sung  in  regular  course,  much  to  the  king's  surprise,  beginning 
with  the  lines. 

Seigneur,  le  Roy  s'esjouira 
D'avoir  eu  delivrance. 

2  See  the  tempting  offers  of  the  younger  brother  of  the  King  of  France  to 
secure  as  an  irrevocable  appanage  the  whole  of  Guyenne,  with  ample  securi- 
ties, Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  ii.  190.  Agrippa  asserts  that  only  two  gentlemen  of 
the  court,  including  himself,  presented  themselves  at  the  Holy  Communion. 
Compare  the  passage  just  cited  of  his  Histoire  universelle  with  his  Memoires, 
p.  483. 


88  THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.         Ch.  I. 


folly  in  your  kingdom."  '  The  forces  under  the  joint  com- 
mand of  the  prince  and  Duke  John  Casimir  had  become  a 
formidable  army.  Henry  in  vain  attempted  to  hinder  its  ad- 
vance by  promising  the  leaders  a  good  and  stable  peace,  and 
the  German  reiters  a  handsome  sum  of  money  in  the  way  of 
wages,  while  endeavoring  to  secure  the  recall  of  the  Swiss  by 
their  own  cantons.  Conde,  John  Casimir,  and  the  Germans 
rejected  his  offers,  and,  though  Berne  consented  to  issue  a  sum- 
mons to  its  subjects  to  return,  the  mercenaries  paid  no  atten- 
tion to  the  order.  The  Germans  entered  France  through  the 
upper  part  of  Champagne,  and  passing  by  Langres,  penetrated 
into  Burgundy  and  Bourbonnois.  Everywhere  their  course 
was  marked  with  bloodshed  and  pillage.  The  environs  of 
Langres  were  laid  waste ;  the  movable  goods  of  the  poor  peas- 
ants were  heaped  up  in  the  wagons  which  the  reiters  insisted 
on  taking  with  them  wherever  they  themselves  went ;  the  vil- 
lages were  then  set  on  fire.  Kear  Dijon  they  captured  the 
venerable  abbey  of  Citeaux,  the  original  home  of  the  monks 
hence  called  Cistercians,  and  in  a  few  hours  had  stripped  the 
monastery  of  everything  valuable  that  had  not  previously  been 
carried  away  for  safety  to  Dijon.  At  Citeaux  the  reiters  had 
Excesses  of  defied  the  express  commands  of  the  Prince  of  Conde, 
the  reiters.  -with,  whom  the  mouks  had  entered  into  a  compact 
and  from  whom  they  had  obtained  a  promise  of  innnunity  ;  at 
Is  uits,  a  small  town  but  a  few  miles  farther  on,  they  acted  with 
equal  insolence  and  with  more  flagrant  inhumanity.  The  place 
had  the  temerity  to  deny  admission  to  the  invaders,  but  had 
yielded  after  a  brief  cannonade.  Duke  John  Casimir  promised 
the  inhabitants  that  their  lives  should  be  spared  and  their  prop- 
erty respected,  and  Conde  not  only  ratified  the  terms  of  sur- 
render but  introduced  a  small  body  of  nobles  and  of  his  own 
troops  to  preclude  the  danger  he  apprehended  from  the  Germans. 
Even  then  the  reiters  rose  in  open  meeting  and  demanded  the 
pillage  of  Nuits  as  their  due.  When  it  was  refused  by  the 
prince,  they  attacked  and  dispersed  or  killed  the  guard  which 


'  John  Casimir  to  Henry  III.,  Heidelberg,  November  17,  1575,  Kluckhohn, 
TJriefe  Friedricb  des  Frommen,  iii.  913. 


1576. 


THE  WAR  CONTINUED. 


89 


he  had  set,  and  then  ruthlessly  put  to  the  sword  every  man, 
woman,  and  child  that  came  in  their  way.  The  town  was  thor- 
oughly sacked.'  It  was  a  butchery,  the  report  of  which  carried 
terror  far  in  advance  of  the  army  which  it  disgraced.  A  little 
later  the  reiters  again  became  clamorous  for  money,  and  threat- 
ened Conde  that  unless  their  demands  were  met  they  would 
elect  a  new  leader.' 

At  length  the  invading  army  and  the  forces  commanded  by 
the  Duke  of  Alengou  effected  a  junction,  and  the  latter  was 
proclaimed  general-in-cliief  of  the  combined  troops.  His  united 
army,  reviewed  on  the  plain  of  Soze,  numbered  thirty  thousand 
men.^  Catharine,  at  no  time  idle  since  the  escape  of  Alengon 
from  court,  now  saw  that  no  time  must  be  lost  in  breaking  the 
force  of  the  great  preparations  of  the  Huguenots.  Henry 
trembled  for  his  sluggish  repose.  Paris,  whose  citizens  would 
have  preferred  to  see  their  king  in  arms  rather  than  engaged 
in  processions  to  supplicate  Heaven  for  the  restoration  of  peace,' 
trembled  for  its  walls.  The  tortuous  paths  of  diplomacy  must 
again  be  tried,  and  this  time  with  more  real  earnestness.  An- 
other year  of  war  had  proved  how  fruitless  the  attempt  was 
likely  to  be  to  coerce  the  Huguenots  into  submission.  Not 
only  were  they  as  strong  as  ever,  but  a  large  army  of  strangers 
had  entered  France,  and  the  king  was  powerless  to  check  or  to 
expel  them.  The  treasury  was  empty ;  the  taxes  were  wrung 
from  the  impoverished  people  with  extreme  difficulty.  Henry 
was  resolved  to  have  peace  at  any  cost.    True,  he  would  put  on 


'  Jolin  Casimir  to  Frederick  the  Pious,  Argilly,  January  26,  1576,  Kluck- 
hohn,  Briefe,  etc.,  iii.  943  ;  Jean  de  Serres,  v.  fols.  1G3,  164  ;  De  Thou,  v.  303, 
304  ;  Reeueil  des  choses  memorables,  563. 
Reeueil,  ubi  supra. 

^Reeueil  des  clioses  memorables,  566;  Jean  de  Serres,  v.  fols.  174,  175; 
De  Thou,  V.  307 ;  Wilkes  to  Burleigh,  Vichy,  February  13,  1576,  State  Paper 
Office. 

■*  "The  people  of  France,''  says  Claude  Haton,  "would  have  been  more 
grateful  to  the  king  had  he  gone  to  the  war  in  person  than  it  was  when  it 
saw  him  go  or  lieard  that  he  went  in  the  procession  ;  for  his  presence  in  the 
war  would  have  been  worth  a  thousand  men.  But  he  would  not  liear  of  such 
a  thing,  and  he  had  greatly  changed  since  he  became  king,"  etc.,  Memoires, 
ii.  825. 


90 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.         Cu.  I. 


a  bold  face,  and  scout  the  terms  thej  suggested  as  absurd ;  but 
be  bad  no  serious  intention  of  bolding  out. 

From  Moulius  the  confederates  sent  their  demands  to  the  , 
king.    Tlie  Protestants  made  about  the  same  requests  as  they 
liad  made  a  year  before,  with  a  special  provision  that 

The  stout  de-  .  ''  •  i     i       i  i  i 

mands  of  the  the  titlics  they  paid  should  o-o  to  the  support  of  their 

Protestants  i  o  i  i 

own  ministers.  The  count  palatine  would  have  had 
them  stipulate  that  the  churches  should  be  used  in  common  by 
the  Roman  Catholics  and  the  Protestants.  The  King  of  Kavarre 
set  forth  his  claims  to  a  restitution  of  his  rights,  to  the  dower  of 
Margaret  of  Valois,  and  to  possible  support  in  reconquering  his 
kingdom  beyond  the  Pyrenees.'  The  Duke  of  Alenyon's  chief 
aim  was  to  secure  for  himself  an  appanage  worthy  of  his  rank. 
Duke  John  Casimir  sought  to  be  put  in  possession  of  the 
"  Three  Bishoprics  " — Metz,  Toul,  and  Yerdun — as  royal  gov- 
ernor ;  and  the  Protestants  supported  him  in  the  application. 
The  three  fortresses  would  be  substantial  guarantees  of  the 
stability  of  the  coming  peace. 

I  may  be  excused  from  entering  with  detail  into  the  story  of 
negotiations  in  which  "  the  ingenuity  of  a  single  woman  proved 
more  than  a  match  for  the  calm  judgment  of  the  most  illustrious 
men,  supported  by  the  weapons  of  powerful  armies."  ^  There 
were  the  usual  eloquent  pleas  for  toleration,  and  the  usual  in- 
consistencies in  urging  them.  There  was  also  a  full  proportion 
of  sensible  suggestions,  which,  had  they  been  acted  upon,  might 
have  changed  the  history  of  France  for  the  next  three  centuries. 
Again  the  Sieur  d'  Arenes  spoke  eloquently  and  forcibly.  "  A 
single  religion  in  a  state  is,  indeed,  desirable ;  but,  when  a  re- 
ligion cannot  be  exterminated  without  public  offence,  prudent 
men  agree  that  it  must  be  tolerated  until  the  minds  of  men  be 

'  The  remarks  of  Jean  de  Serres  (v.  fol.  185)  respecting  the  surprise  gener- 
ally felt  at  the  character  of  the  King  of  Navarre's  first  demands  are  worthy  of 
notice  :  "  Haec  erant  Navarrsei  postulata  louge  diversa  quam  et  rumor  dissemi- 
nasset  et  complures  rerum  aulicarum  nou  imperiti  arbitrarentur,  qui  nervo- 
siora  et  magis  virilia  expectabant  a  Navarraeo. " 

'  "Mulieris  versutia  plus  potuit  quam  clarissimorum  virorum  sobrium  con- 
silium, ingentibus  etiam  viribus  armatum. "  Jean  de  Serres,  v.  fol.  175. 
The  course  of  this  protracted  and  important  negotiation  is  traced  at  great 
length  by  this  author,  v.  fols.  175-202. 


1576. 


THE  WAR  CONTINUED. 


91 


changed  by  a  Power  superior  to  the  power  of  man."  '  Beutrich, 
the  envoy  of  John  Casimir,  declared  tliat  the  Protestant  religion 
not  only  exacts  obedience  to  legitimate  authority,  but  seeks  to 
restore  to  the  king  the  authority  usurped  by  the  Poman  Pon- 
tiffs. And  he  added,  in  explanation  of  the  demand  for  the 
three  cities  for  his  master  :  "  We  distrust,  Sire,  not  you,  but  the 
counsellors  about  you,  who,  because  the  lion's  tail  is  not  long 
enough,  would  add  the  wolf's."  °  Count  Yentadour,  brother- 
in-law  of  Marshal  Damville,  and  an  ally  whose  accession  to  the 
ranks  of  the  confederates  had  added  great  moral  weight,  pro- 
posed, through  a  special  embassy,  that  only  two  i-eligions  should 
be  authorized,  while  all  others  should  be  proscribed  as  before. 
And  he  advocated  several  reforms,  including  regular  meetings 
of  the  states  general  every  two  years,  the  application  of  one- 
fourth  of  all  ecclesiastical  revenues  to  the  support  of  hospitals, 
and  the  abolition  of  the  system  of  purchase  of  judicial  offices. 
"  For,"  said  he,  "  what  has  been  purchased  at  wholesale  will  in- 
fallibly be  sold  again  at  retail."  '  The  negotiations  had  also 
their  ludicrous  side.  The  Protestant  envoys  were  still  so  de- 
ceived regarding  the  character  of  Alen9on  and  the  attitude  of 
Catharine  de'  Medici  toward  him,  that  they  exhibited  an  anxiety, 
amounting  almost  to  apprehension,  lest  the  poor  prince's  rights 
should  be  overlooked ;  and  Catharine  assured  the  envoys,  with 
becoming  gravity,  that  she  would  pledge  her  word  that  Alencon 
should  be  satisfied.*  It  may  be  affirmed  with  safety  that  rarely 
did  Catharine  keep  her  word  so  well  as  in  the  present  instance. 

One  point  after  another  was  conceded  by  the  court  at  the  ur- 
gent pressure  of  the  confederates,  till  it  seemed  that  everything 
The  two  would  be  yielded.  But  there  were  two  petitions 
{^atharine'^''  Catharine  would  not  concede.  One  respected  the 
will  not  yield,  {-jtijgg .  gjjg  .^^gg  yesolute  that  the  Huguenots  should 
not  be  relieved  of  their  financial  embarrassments.  The  other 
was  the  confiding  of  Metz,  Toul,  and  A^erdun  to  Duke  John 
Casimir :  the  Huguenots  could  not  be  suffered  to  obtain  such 
security  against  future  assaults,  or  the  favorable  edict  now  to 


'  Jean  de  Serres,  v.  fol.  179. 
3  Ibid.,  V.  fol.  187. 


=  Ibid.,  V.  fols.  183, 184. 
<Ibid.,  V.  fols.  188,  189. 


92 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OP  NAVARRE. 


Cii.  I. 


be  put  forth  might  in  very  deed  become  irrevocable,  not  from 
tlie  unwillingness,  but  from  the  inability  of  the  king  to  repeal 
it.  Every  art  of  diplomacy  was,  therefore,  employed  to  per- 
suade the  envoys  to  recede  from  their  position.  Xor  was  the 
effort  in  vain.  The  envoys  were  finally  induced  to  write  a 
letter  to  the  Duke,  begging  him  to  renounce  his  claim,  on  the 
ground  that  otherwise  the  treaty  would  fail,  and  France  would 
again  be  plunged  in  the  horrors  of  civil  war.  Keluctantly,  and 
only,  it  would  seem,  because  of  his  excessive  sensitiveness  to 
the  unjust  aspersion  of  his  motives — as  though  he  were  in  quest 
of  private  gain  rather  than  the  general  good  of  his  co-religion- 
ists— did  John  Casimir  consent  to  receive  the  promises  which 
took  the  place  of  the  "  Three  Bishoprics."' ' 

The  queen  mother's  shrewdness  had  won  the  day,  not  with- 
out the  assistance  of  that  bevy  of  court  beauties  on  whose 
Henry's  im-  cliamis  slio  was  wout  ou  such  occasions  to  place  great 
thafT  the  dependence.'  Even  thus,  however,  she  had  had  diffi- 
peopie.  culty  in  restraining  Henry's  eagerness.  He  would  have 
the  peace,  he  exclaimed,  if  it  cost  him  half  his  kingdom.'  As 
for  the  people,  its  impatience  knew  no  bounds.  Between  the 
Roman  Catholic  and  the  Huguenot  armies  the  unhappy  in- 
habitants of  the  towns  and  villages  had  little  chance  of  saving 
any  of  their  scanty  possessions.  The  Huguenot  leaders  levied 
large  sums  of  money  on  the  provinces  of  Central  France,  which 
were  reluctantly  paid  to  secure  imnnmity  from  invasion.  Au- 
vergne  was  assessed  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  livres. 
Berry,  forty  thousand  ;  the  single  city  of  Dijon  is  reported  to 
have  paid  two  hundred  thousand  livres,  and  Nevers  thirty  thou- 
sand. The  Roman  Catholic  troopers,  on  the  plea  that  they 
Avere  unpaid,  indulged  in  the  usual  excesses,  not  against  those 


'  Jean  de  Serres,  v.  fol.  201.  According  to  Hubert  Langiiet,  who  appears 
to  have  been  well  informed,  the  King  of  France,  finding  that  John  Casimir 
could  not  be  moved  from  his  position,  resorted  to  the  Swiss  Protestant  Cantons. 
He  begged  them  to  use  their  intercessions  with  the  elector  palatine  to  induce 
him  to  overcome  his  son's  obstinate  determination,  the  only  remaining  im- 
pediment to  the  conclusion  of  peace.  The  scheme  succeeded  but  too  well. 
Episitolae  secrets,  i.  18G. 

'  Jean  de  Serres,  v.  fol.  201.  ^  Lestoile,  i.  67,  68. 


15T6. 


PAIX  DE  MONSIEUR. 


1)3 


who  opposed  them,  but  against  the  villages  that  had  espoused 
the  defence  of  the  king — "  pillaging,  robbing,  ravaging,  plun- 
dering, killing,  burning,  violating,  exacting  ransoms."  The 
poor  people  was  devoured  by  both  sides.  If  there  was  an 
abundance  of  thieves  in  the  one  party,  there  was  no  lack  of 
robbers  in  the  other.'  The  Protestant  army  was  not  far  from 
Paris ;  the  exaggerated  fears  of  the  terrified  inhabitants  made 
it  even  nearer  than  it  really  was.  "  They  of  the  faubourgs  gen- 
erally," wrote  an  eye-witness,  "  remove  their  goods  into  this 
town  with  such  diligence  that  a  man  can  scant  enter  the  gates 
for  the  press  of  people,  carriage,  and  cattle." ' 

In  the  beginning  of  May  the  peace  that  marked  the  conclusion 
of  the  Fifth  Religious  War  was  given  to  the  world  in  a  royal 
edict  of  pacification,  known  as  the  "  Edict  of  Beaulieu," 

The  Edict  of     „  .  ,     '      .  i     i     i  -n 

Pacification  tiom  the  spot  wliere  it  was  concluded,  a  village  near 
Loches,  in  Touraine.  The  chief  points  in  the  *'  Paix 
de  Monsieur,"  as  the  accommodation  was  popularly  called,  were 
these  :  Henry  ordained  entire  oblivion  of  the  past.  He  granted 
to  the  Protestants  universal  freedom  of  worship  throughout 
France,  without  exception  of  time  or  place,  unless  the  particular 
lord  should  object  to  its  exercise  upon  his  lands.^  The  Protes- 
tants were,  moreover,  guaranteed  the  liberty  to  instruct  their 
children,  to  administer  the  sacraments,  to  celebrate  marriage,  to 
establish  schools,  and  convene  consistories  and  synods,  the  latter 
in  the  presence  of  a  royal  officer.  They  were  promised  ad- 
mission to  offices  and  the  establishment  of  chambres  mi- 
parties  "  in  each  of  the  parliaments  of  the  kingdom,  wherein 
cases  affecting  them  should  be  tried  by  an  etpial  number  of 
judges  of  the  two  religions.  Henry  declared  his  intention  to 
assemble  the  states  general  at  Blois  within  six  months.  He 
disowned  all  participation  in  the  horrors  of  the  massacre  of 
St.  Bartholomew's  day,  repealed  the  sentences  pronounced 
against  Admiral  Coligny  and  other  Huguenot  leaders,  and  ap- 
proved of  the  acts  performed  and  the  alliances  entered  into  by 

•  Lestoile,  i.  68.    See  Claude  Haton,  ii.  849. 

'  "  News  from  France,"  inclosed  in  Dale's  letter  to  Burleigh,  April  17,  1576, 
State  Paper  Office. 

"  Paris  alone  was  excepted. 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.         Ch.  I, 


the  Protestants.  In  token  of  sincerity  he  conceded  to  them  eight 
cities  in  pledge.'  The  Huguenot  leaders  were  not  forgotten. 
The  Prince  of  Conde  was  appointed  governor  of  Picardy,  with 
the  city  of  Peronne  as  his  residence.  His  brother,  the  Marquis 
of  Conty,  received  a  military  command.  Duke  John  Casimir 
was  promised  a  large  annual  subsidy  and  a  force  commensurate 
with  his  rank.  As  to  Alen9on,  the  prince  about  whom  the  Hu- 
guenot envoys  had  displayed  so  much  anxiety,  and  for  whom 
they  had  had  so  much  misplaced  sj^rapathy,  the  queen  mother 
was  as  good  as  her  word.  If  the  youth  was  not  satisfied  with 
the  magnificent  appanage  that  was  granted  him — the  rich  prov- 
inces of  Berry,  Toui-aine,  and  Anjou,  together  with  the  annual 
revenue  of  one  hundred  thousand  crowns  of  gold — he  must  in- 
deed have  been  a  difiicult  person  to  please." 

In  the  general  exultation  over  the  return  of  peace  and  the 
concession  of  a  larger  religious  liberty  than  had  ever  before  been 
granted  to  them,  the  Huguenots  may  be  pardoned  for  making 
little  account  of  the  mode  in  which  their  recent  ally,  the  young- 
est Yalois,  had  contrived  to  secure  a  lion's  share  of  the  real  fruits 
of  the  war.  They  had  yet  to  discover  respecting  the  "  Paix  de 
Monsieur,"  that  if  the  most  specious  pacification,  it  was  also  the 
least  useful  of  all  compacts  to  the  adherents  of  the  Reformed 
faith.' 


'  These  were  :  In  Languedoc,  Beaucaire  and  Algues-mortes  ;  in  Guyenne, 
Perigueux  and  Mas  de  Verdun  ;  in  Daupliiuy,  Nyons  and  Serres  ;  in  Auvergne, 
Issoire  ;  and  in  Provence,  Seine-la-grand-tour. 

-  The  text  of  the  edict  of  pacification  is  given  in  full  in  the  Memoires  de 
Nevers,  i.  117-135,  and  Haag,  France  protestante,  x.  127-141.  See  also  Re- 
cueil  des  choses  memorables,  569,  570,  Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  ii.  214,  etc.,  Da- 
vila,  219,  220,  etc.  Jean  de  Serres,  gives  a  Latin  summary  of  the  edict,  v. 
fols.  202-207.  His  invaluable  Commentarii  de  statu  religionis  et  reipublicae 
(1580),  I  regret  to  say,  end  at  this  point.  Nor  does  the  circumstance  that  the 
works  of  this  writer  have  been  honored  with  a  special  mention  in  the  "Index 
Librorum  Prohibitorum ''  (I  have  before  me  the  edition  of  Rome,  1841),  in 
company  with  much  other  good  literature,  fully  reconcile  me  to  the  necessity 
of  henceforth  threading  the  intricate  maze  of  the  events  of  the  period  now 
under  consideration  deprived  of  the  assistance  of  a  well-informed,  clear-sighted, 
and  conscientious  guide. 

^  "  La  paix  la  plus  specialise  et  la  moins  utile  aux  Refformez."  Agrippa 
'TAubignc,  ii.  194. 


1576. 


CONDITION  OF  LANGUBDOC. 


95 


The  scene  of  the  struggle  in  which  the  Huguenots  found  themselves  plunged 
upon  the  return  of  Henry  the  Third  from  Poland  was  restricted  so  much  to 

Languedoc  that  the  condition  of  that  extensive  province  is  a 
dcscr'ipUon^'of''  matter  of  more  than  ordinary  interest  to  him  that  would  under- 
the  condition  stand  the  ensuing  events.  We  are  fortunately  in  possession  of  a 
of  Languedoc.  i  jjxt 

curious  report  made  by  M.  de  Fourquevaulx,  governor  or  JNar- 

bonne,  an  upright  and  well-informed  man,  respecting  that  important  portion 
of  Languedoc  which  was  comjjrised  in  the  two  "  senecliaussees  "  of  Toulouse 
and  Lauragais.  The  document,  which  is  in  the  form  of  a  series  of  answers  to 
questions  propounded  to  the  writer  in  a  letter  of  Charles  the  Ninth,  despatched 
in  the  course  of  the  preceding  autumn,  is  dated  on  the  twenty-third  of  Janu- 
ary, 1574.  (It  is  inserted  among  the  "preuves"  of  Dom  Vaissete's  Histoire 
de  Languedoc,  v.  224-239.)  Replying  to  an  inquiry  respecting  the  Roman 
Catholic  ecclesiastics,  Fourquevaulx  stated  that  the  bishops,  archbishops,  and 
other  prelates  of  the  two  senecliaussees,  with  a  single  exception,  made  it  a  rule 
to  reside  in  their  dioceses  as  little  as  possible.  Motives  of  convenience,  or 
expense,  or  proximity  to  hunting-grounds,  or  pleasure  determined  the  place  of 
their  abode  ;  for  it  would  be  a  miracle  were  one  of  them  found  possessed  of 
but  a  single  prelature.  It  was  fifty-seven  years  since  Narbonne  had  laid  eyes 
upon  her  arclibishoj).  It  was  about  as  long  since  the  archbishop  of  Toulouse 
had  been  at  his  see  for  over  a  week  at  a  time.  The  suffragan  bishops  acquitted 
themselves  little  or  no  better.  The  bishop  of  St.  Papoul  was  in  Rome,  the 
bishop  of  Lavaur  in  Paris,  the  bishop  of  Montauban  at  court  ;  the  bishop  of 
Comminges  (St.  Bertrand  de  Comminges)  was  the  solitary  instance  of  an 
ecclesiastic  of  this  dignity  abiding  by  his  own  fold,  doing  the  office  of  a 
good  pastor  and  teaching  his  flock  by  precept  and  example.  In  the  whole 
province  of  Languedoc  there  were  twenty-two  archbishoprics  and  bishoprics. 
Of  these,  four — Alais,  Lodeve,  Nismes,  and  Uzes — were  in  the  power  of  the 
Huguenots.  The  holders  of  fourteen  of  the  remaining  eighteen  were  ab- 
sentees. At  least  one  of  the  four  who  resided  in  their  dioceses  led  a  life  that 
scandalized  rather  than  edified  the  people  under  his  charge.  Following  the 
example  of  their  superiors,  the  abbots,  priors,  and  curates  shunned  residence 
on  a  great  variety  of  excuses,  putting  their  benefices  in  charge  of  men  of  no 
account,  some  of  whom  dared  not  remain  through  fear  of  the  Huguenots, 
while  others  could  not,  because  their  churches  or  monasteries  had  been 
burned  during  the  wars  or  were  occupied  by  soldiers.  Consequently  the 
people  were  left  without  religious  instruction,  the  treasure  of  the  district  went 
abroad,  almsgiving  ceased,  the  ecclesiastical  edifices  not  already  destroyed  went 
to  ruin.  Holy  orders  were  conferred  without  discrimination,  the  sacraments 
administered  without  reverence  or  devotion,  by  priests  and  vicars  unable  to 
comprehend  what  they  said  or  did.  As  the  result,  the  laity  lield  the  sacra- 
ments and  those  that  administered  them  in  equal  contempt. 

In  reply  to  the  question,  "  whether  the  ecclesiastics  enjoyed  their  posse.s- 
sions  or  were  disturbed  in  them,"  Fourquevaulx  gave  a  sorry  exhibit  of  the 
number  of  towns  and  villages  that  were  in  the  hands  of  the  Protestants 
and  from  which  no  income  could  be  expected.  If  the  dioceses  of  Rieux 
and  Comminges  were  exclusively  held  by  Roman  Catholics,  it  was  otherwise 


96 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.         Cn.  I. 


with  the  diocese  of  Lavanr,  where  out  of  eight  considerable  towns  (villes 
maitresses),  including  Lavaur  itself  in  the  number,  the  enemy  held  live,  and 
all  the  four-score  smaller  places,  castles  and  villages. 

Nor  was  the  picture  brighter  when  the  governor  of  Narboune  came  to  de- 
scribe the  nobles,  and  their  dealings  with  one  another  and  with  the  people. 
The  common  opinion  was  that,  had  the  Roman  Catholic  nobles  chosen  to  exert 
themselves,  the  civil  wars  would  long  since  have  been  over.  But  those  who 
stj'led  themselves  Catholic  played  into  the  hands  of  those  who  belonged  to  the 
other  party.  "  The  one  set  of  nobles  hold  the  lamb,  the  others  flay  it ;  the 
rebels  plunder  (font  les  voleurs),  and  the  Catholics  find  purchasers  for  them." 
Greed  ruled  both  parties.  Of  the  Huguenots,  the  governor  of  Narbonne,  wlio 
had,  some  time  since,  violently  expelled  them  from  the  city,  draws  no  flatter- 
ing portrait.  "Little  mention  is  made' among  the  rebels  of  living  as  Cliris- 
tians  ;  for  it  is  only  in  name  that  they  embrace  their  religion.  They  blas- 
pheme, they  plunder,  they  indulge  in  lewdness,  they  kill  in  combat  and  in 
cold  blood,  and  do  everything  the  Gospel  forbids  ;  alleging  in  justification 
that  war  permits  them  to  act  thus,  especially  against  '  idolaters '  as  they  style 
the  Catholics."    As  to  the  latter,  with  them,  too,  everything  was  perverted. 

Between  the  two  religions  the  numerical  disparity  was  great.  Nine-tenths 
of  the  people  were  Roman  Catholics,  disposed  to  live  and  die  in  obedience  to 
the  king.  From  these  must  be  excepted  men  of  the  long  robe  (of  the  legal 
profession),  the  bourgeoisie,  the  tradespeople,  the  men  who  had  tasted  of 
letters,  and  the  young  men  who  were  friends  of  liberty.  Little  reliance  could 
be  reposed  even  upon  those  that  had  not  openly  gone  over  to  Protestantism. 
So,  too,  such  of  the  artisans  as  were  of  a  somewhat  sprightly  turn  of  mind 
were  either  declared  Calvinists  or  suspected  to  be  such.  The  most  trust- 
worthy Catholics  were  "  the  simple  folk  and  good  peasants." 

The  statements  of  Fourquevaulx  respecting  the  non-residenoe  of  the  epis- 
copate of  Languedoc  are  illustrated  by  the  circumstance  that  the  Acts  of  the 
Council  of  the  ecclesiastical  province  of  Narbonne,  which  opened  December 
10, 1551,  show  that  not  a  single  bishop  was  present  at  its  sessions.  The  absent 
prelates  were  represented  by  vicars.  (Histoire  de  Languedoc,  v.  169.) 


1576. 


THE  HOLY  LEAGUE. 


97 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  STATES-GENERAL  OF  BLOIS,  AND  THE  SIXTH  CIVIL  WAR. 

However  grateful  may  have  been  the  retui-n  of  peace  to  the 
inhabitants  of  those  extensive  regions  of  France  that  had  suf- 
fered most  severely  from  the  ravages  of  war,  never 
of  the  "Paix  had  au  edict  of  pacification  been  published  whose 

de  Monsieur."  .  rr        •         .  •  c  i 

concessions  were  so  onensive  to  the  enemies  or  the 
Iluo-nenots  as  those  of  the  "Pai.x;  de  Monsieur."  A  toleration 
coextensive  with  the  limits  of  the  kingdom  was  guaranteed  to 
the  Protestant  woi-ship  by  a  solemn  law  declared  to  be  perpet- 
ual and  irrevocable.  To  the  heretics  lately  in  arms,  to  heretics 
supposed  to  have  been  all  but  annihilated  in  the  Parisian  matins, 
to  heretics  stripped  of  their  property  by  judicial  process,  not 
only  was  restitution  promised,  but  courts  were  to  be  granted  in 
each  of  the  parliaments  of  France,  from  which  impartial  decis- 
ions might  henceforth  be  expected.  Iso  wonder  that  monks 
stormed  from  the  pulpits,  that  bigoted  judges  protested  against 
the  innovation.  When  the  queen  mother,  accompanied  by  her 
daughter,  the  Queen  of  Xavarre,  proceeded  to  the  great  church 
of  Sens  and  requested  that  the  canons  be  assembled  and  a  Te 
Deum  be  sung  in  gratitude  for  the  return  of  peace,  an  old 
ecclesiastic,  the  spokesman  of  the  clergy,  replied,  "  Madam, 
according  to  what  I  hear  of  the  terms  upon  which  the  peace 
has  been  concluded,  it  is  the  Huguenots  that  ought  to  sing  the 
'  Te  Deum  laudamus  '  and  not  the  Catholics.  It  would  be  more 
becoming  for  us  to  chant,  '  Requiem  ffiternam  dona  nobis,  Do- 
mine.'  "  '  The  chapter  of  Notre  Dame  in  Paris  was  not  less 
insolent  to  the  king  himself  ;  for  the  members  refused  to  ring 
their  bells  and  to  sing  the  church's  jubilant  hymn,  proposing  to 


'  Mumoires  de  Claude  Haton,  ii.  833. 
Vol  I.— 7 


98 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.        Ch.  U. 


substitute  in  its  place  the  psalm,  "  Circumdederunt  me  viri 
mendaces,"  with  the  appropriate  introit,  "  Circumdederunt  me 
dolores  mortis."  Henry  was  compelled  to  wait  a  whole  day  and 
then  employ  his  own  singers  to  perform  the  task  declined 
by  the  canons  of  the  cathedral.  The  latter  paid  for  their  dis- 
obedience by  a  fine  imposed  upon  them  by  the  parliament ;  but 
this  did  not  daunt  the  people  of  Paris,  who  stoutly  refused  to 
light  the  customary  bonfires  in  the  streets  or  indulge  in  any 
outward  demonstration  of  joy.'  The  king,  however,  made  show 
of  a  firm  determination  to  carry  the  edict  into  effect.  On  the 
fourteenth  of  May  he  proceeded  to  parliament,  accompanied  by 
Henry  insists  priuccs  of  the  blood,  and  not  only  ordered  the 
out  thrpro^  registration  of  the  edict,  but  swore  to  its  observance 
visions.  g^^^  directed  all  that  were  present  to  take  a  similar 
oath.  About  three  weeks  later  he  again  met  the  judges,  and 
commanded  them  to  acknowledge  the  erection  of  the  "  chambre 
mi-partie,"  an  institution  so  odious  that  only  the  royal  presence 
deterred  parliament  from  rejecting  it.''  Even  then  the  refrac- 
tory counsellors  resolutely  refused  to  recognize  the  appointment 
of  that  eloquent  and  learned  Huguenot,  the  Sieur  d'  Arenes, 
whom  the  king  had  named  as  presiding  judge  of  the  mixed  tri- 
bunal. He  gained  his  seat  only  after  repeated  orders  and 
threats  from  the  king  and  his  mother,  and  through  the  personal 
insistence  of  Chancellor  Birague  and  other  members  of  the 
royal  council.' 

The  peace,  thus  declared  and  established  with  all  the  forms 
calculated  to  give  it  effect,  was  in  reality  little  more  than  a  hol- 


'  La  Huguerye  to  the  Prince  of  Orange,  May  19,  1576,  Groen  van  Prinsterer, 
Archives,  Supplement,  188*.  Mem.  de  Claude  Haton,  ii.  848.  Mem.  d'un 
cure  ligueur  (Jehan  de  la  Fosse),  175,  176. 

^  June  7,  Lestoile,  i.  72.  "  It  was  much  to  be  noted,"  wrote  Dr.  Dale  to 
Lord  Burleigh,  May  11,  1576,  "that  the  king  caused  the  Duke  of  Guise,  the 
Duke  of  Maine,  the  Duke  d'Aumale,  and  the  Marshal  de  Retz  to  be  at  the  pub- 
lication of  the  peace,  and  to  swear  to  it,  although  it  was  very  coldly  done  on 
the  part  of  the  Guises.  They  had  the  oath  ministered  unto  tliem,  and  were 
willed  to  hold  up  tl^eir  hand,  which  is  the  manner  of  taking  an  oath  in  this 
country."    State  Paper  OflBce. 

Lestoile  (under  dates  of  July  16  and  30),  i.  72,  73,  75.  See,  however, 
Davila,  220,  and  Claude  Haton,  ii.  866. 


15TG. 


THE  HOLY  LEAGUE. 


09 


low  truce.    It  was  absurd  to  suppose  that  either  Heniy  or  his 
mother  had  any  serious  intention  of  maintaining  a  compact  so 
honorable  for  the  king's  revolted  subjects,  so  dishonor- 

Privfitc  SGiiti- 

ments  of  the  able  for  the  king  himself.'  Henry  had  not  disguised, 
during  the  negotiations  of  the  past  year,  his  indigna- 
tion at  the  boldness  of  the  Protestants.  In  the  execution  of 
the  unfortunate  Montbrun  he  had  obtained  revenge  for  the 
insult  received  from  one  Huguenot  leader  who,  with  fatal  bold- 
ness of  speech,  had  laid  claim  to  equality  with  his  monarch  in 
time  of  war.  Would  his  majesty  be  likely  to  forget  the  woimd 
his  self-respect  had  received  from  the  whole  body  of  the  Hugue- 
nots when  they  compelled  him  to  accept  peace  on  terms  dic- 
tated by  them  ?  °  Precisely  how  he  would  obtain  release  from 
the  humiliating  engagements  he  had  entered  into — substituting 
another  "  perpetual  and  irrevocable  edict  "  of  more  agreeable 
character  for  the  "  perpetual  and  irrevocable  edict  "  which  he 
had  just  promi^lgated  ' — it  is  by  no  means  certain  that  as  yet  he 
imagined.  Yet,  even  from  the  first,  it  is  not  improbable  that 
he  foresaw  the  useful  end  to  which  the  states  general,  so  anx- 
iously and  urgently  demanded  by  the  Huguenots,  might  be 
turned.  In  case,  as  was  likely  to  be  the  issue,  the  enemies  of 
the  reformers  should  secure  a  clear  majority  in  the  great  national 
convocation,  Henry  could  as  easily  retract  his  engagements  with 
his  subjects  as  Francis  the  First  had  dispensed  with  the  humil- 
iating terms  of  his  release  from  captivity  under  the  Treaty  of 
Madrid.  Only,  the  grandson  must  be  as  careful  as  had  been  his 
grandfather  to  secure  all  the  advantages  afforded  by  his  breach 
of  faith  before  publishing  to  the  world  that  his  promises  were 
null  and  void  because  of  the  force  employed  by  his  opponents. 
Some  of  these  advantages  liad  already  been  gained.    The  Duke 


'  In  fact  Henry  did  not  hesitate  so  to  inform  Duplessis  Mornay,  in  August, 
1583.  He  told  him,  without  any  apparent  shame,  "■  qu'il  n'eut  jamais  vouUoir 
de  tenir  la  paix  de  7G,  mais  qu'aussi  ne  le  cela  il  poinct,  pour  la  faQon  dout 
elle  avoit  este  faicte."    Memoires  de  Duplessis  Mornay,  ii.  374. 

^  See  Ranke's  remarks,  p.  293. 

^  The  edict  of  pacification  of  1576  and  that  of  1577  were  declared,  each,  to  be 
"cettuy  nostre  edit  perpetual  et  irrevocable."  Texts  in  Memoires  de  Nevers, 
i.  117,  291. 


100 


THK  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.        Cir.  II. 


of  Alen9on,  who  now  assumed  the  title  of  Diike  of  Anjoii,  was 
effectually  weaned  from  the  Huguenot  party.    lie  liad  sided 
with  the  Protestants  only  from  motives  of  self-inter- 

AleiU'on  won  i  r' 

from  the  Hu-  est.  As  to  any  real  aftection  for  them  or  for  their 
doctrine,  those  who  knew  him  well  asserted  that  they 
had  heard  him  say  frequently  that  "  in  his  heart  he  hated  the 
Protestants  as  he  hated  the  devil."  '  Moreover,  his  sister,  the 
Queen  of  Kavarre,  a  pretty  keen  judge  of  character,  described 
him  to  the  life  when  she  made  the  unamiable  remark  that  "  if 
all  treachery  were  to  be  banished  from  the  face  of  the  earth, 
Alen9on  would  be  able  to  repeople  it.'' '  Kow  that  the  duke  had 
been  gratified  with  an  establishment  rivalling  in  splendor  that 
of  the  king  himself,'  he  was  at  no  pains  to  conceal  his  perfect 
indifference  to  the  fate  of  his  late  associates  in  arms.  He  not 
only  forbade  the  Huguenots  of  Pi-ovins  and  Troyes  to  hold 
public  services  for  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel,  but  used  the 
most  opprobrious  language  respecting  them.  "  That  Protestant 
canaille,"  he  said,  "  is  not  worth  the  drowning."  *  "  One  needs 
only  to  know  the  Huguenots  to  hate  them.  I  have  never  known 
any  man  of  worth  among  them  except  rran9ois  de  la  ISToue." ' 

Not  only  had  the  king's  younger  brother  been  detached  from 
the  party  of  the  "  malcontents,"  but  the  German  reiters  in  the 
service  of  the  Protestants  had  been  induced  to  leave  the  interior 
of  the  country.  Thus  the  capital  was  freed  from  the  danger- 
ous proximity  of  the  turbulent  and  unruly  followers  of  John 


'  "  Je  sc^'ay  pour  luy  avoir  ouy  dire  plusieiirs  fois,  qu'il  les  lia'it  comme  le 
diable  dans  le  coeur."  Tlie  words  are  tliose  of  the  King  of  Navarre  to  Sully. 
Mcmoires  de  Sully,  c.  xv.  (i.  102). 

^  Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  ii.  412:  "Que  si  toute  I'infidelite  estoit  bannie  de  la 
terre,  sou  f rere  la  pourroit  repeupler. '' 

^  See  "Estat  des  gages  des  seigneurs,  gentilsliommes,  et  autres  officiers  de  la 
maison  de  Monseigueur  Fils  de  France,  Frere  unique  du  Roy."  This  docu- 
ment, signed  by  the  duke  at  Bourges,  August  5,  1576,  and  occupying  twenty- 
three  folio  pages  of  the  Memoires  de  Nevers,  i.  577-599,  is  of  interest  in  more 
points  than  one.  It  disposed  of  the  sum  (immense  for  the  time)  of  2G3,710 
livres  in  annual  salaries,  apportioned  among  about  1,600  persons.  The  duke 
had  the  plentiful  supply  of  fifteen  almoners  and  seven  chaplains,  but  only  a 
single  preacher.  The  chamberlains  numbered  108,  and  the  gentlemen  of  the 
bedchamber,  148. 

*  Mem.  de  Claude  Hatou,  ii.  859.  ^  Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  ii.  233. 


1576. 


THE  HOLY  LEAGUE. 


101 


Casimir;  and  if,  according  to  the  statement  of  a  resident  diplo- 
matist, the  Germans,  while  waiting  on  the  borders  for  the  first 
instalment  of  the  promised  payment,  daily  inflicted  damage  to 
the  extent  of  twenty  thousand  crowns  iipon  their  unwilling 
hosts,'  there  was  at  least  this  consolation,  that  the  court  was 
undisturbed  by  their  violence  in  its  continual  round  of  pleasure. 

Whatever  Henry's  ulterior  designs  might  be,  he  was  not  yet 
ready  for  a  renewal  of  the  war  with  the  Huguenots,  and  he 
was  therefore  resolved  that  no  one  should  by  ill-timed  zeal  pre- 
cipitate the  outbreak  of  the  conflict.  The  lavish  concessions  of 
the  edict  of  pacification  fostered  the  rapid  institution  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  associations  of  which  I  shall  soon  have  occa- 
sion to  speak.  But  the  rumors  of  these  events  that  reached 
the  king's  ears,  instead  of  producing  gratification,  greatly  dis- 
quieted him.  It  was  reported  that  the  Guises  were  secretly 
instigating  the  people  of  Burgundy  and  Champagne,  as  well  as 
the  inhabitants  of  the  strongly  papal  provinces  of  Xormandy 
Henry  and  ^^d  Picardy,  to  rcfuse  a  recognition  of  the  right  of 
dfgnanr^  'at  worship  accordcd  to  the  Protestants.'  Xeither  Cath- 
the  Guises,  ^rino  de'  Medici  nor  her  son  attempted  to  conceal 
their  irritation.  To  Henry  of  Guise  and  his  brother  the  Duke 
of  ]\Iayenne  they  gave  on  one  occasion  such  open  marks  of 
displeasure  as  to  attract  the  notice  of  the  entire  court.  On  the 
next  day,  indeed,  a  reconciliation  was  effected  through  the 
instrumentality  of  the  Cardinal  of  Este ;  but  the  king  insisted 
that  the  Guises  should  solemnly  subscribe  certain  articles  pledg- 
ing their  faith  that  they  would  enter  into  no  league  witli  any 
persons  to  contravene  the  terms  of  the  peace.    It  is  almost 

'  "  E  ogni  giorno  fanno  danno  per  circa  venti  mila  scudi."  Saracini  to  the 
Grand  Duke,  July,  lo76,  Negociations  avec  la  Toscane,  iv.  75,  76.  See,  also, 
Languet's  letter  of  August  16,  in  which  he  observes  :  "  Ita  tandem  fiet  ut  i.stis 
militum  direptionibus  Gallia  non  solum  ad  egestatem,  sed  etiam  ad  vastitatem 
redigatur.''  Epistolae  secrette,  i.  215.  John  Casimir's  reiters  were  said  to 
bring  with  them  from  France  four  thousand  wagons  laden  with  the  spoil  of 
the  miserable  peasants.  The  animals  at  their  command  proving  too  few  to 
draw  the  booty,  the  German  captains  compelled  their  chaplains  to  dismount 
and  put  into  the  service  the  horses  they  rode  on.  Languet,  letter  of  Septem- 
ber 8,  ibid.,  i.  223. 

■  See  Dale's  letter  of  May  23,  1576,  State  Paper  Office. 


102  THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.        Ch.  II. 

needless  to  say  that  the  Lorraine  princes  displayed  extreme 
repugnance  to  the  assumption  of  this  obligation,  protesting  that 
the  death  of  their  father  and  their  own  wounds  received  in  the 
king's  service  were  sufficient  evidence  of  the  devotion  of  the 
House  of  Guise  to  the  interests  of  the  French  crown.'  A  few 
weeks  later  (on  the  thirty-first  of  August)  Henry  took  vigorous 
measures  to  put  an  end  to  the  formation  of  Roman  Catholic 
associations  in  Brittany.  The  letter  of  instructions  which  he 
wrote  to  the  Duke  of  Montpensier,  governor  of  the 

Royal  instruc-  .  i      i  i 

tions  to  Mont-  provmcc,  loavcs  no  room  to  doubt  that  even  so  late  as 
the  end  of  summer,  the  king  W'as  heartily  opposed  to 
the  fanatical  counsels  which  he  afterward  thought  it  advisable 
to  adopt.  He  ordered  the  duke  to  undertake  the  justification 
of  the  course  taken  by  the  crown  as  a  course  dictated  by  neces- 
sity, and  dwelt  nmch  upon  the  labor  and  trouble  cheerfully 
undertaken  by  his  mother  in  order  to  put  an  end  to  a  war 
that  must,  if  continued,  entail  the  ruin  of  the  kingdom.  More 
than  this,  he  warned  the  three  orders  of  Brittany  that  who- 
ever, without  the  express  permission  or  command  of  the  sov- 
ereign, should  venture  to  form  a  league  wath  any  other  per- 
sons, whomsoever,  would  render  himself  liable  to  the  charge 
of  treason.  He  declared  his  own  great  displeasure  at  the 
formation  of  the  leagues  in  question,  and  ordered  his  mis- 


'  The  incident  is  referred  to  both  by  Lestoile,  under  date  of  August  2,  1576 
(  i.  75);  and  by  Saracini,  in  his  letter  to  the  Grand  Duke  of  August  5  (Nego- 
ciations  avec  la  Toscane,  iv.  77,  78).  This  seems  to  be  the  same  matter  to 
•which  Dale  refers.  Learning  that  Guise  was  liolding  an  animated  discussion, 
lasting  nearly  two  hours,  in  the  king's  outer  chamber  with  a  gentleman  from 
Picardy,  the  qiieen  mother,  after  repeatedly  sending  "  to  see  whether  they  were 
through,"  at  length  lost  patience,  and,  coming  out,  boldly  charged  the  duke 
that  "he  would  never  leave  to  trouble  the  peace  of  the  realm,''  and  called 
him  into  the  royal  cabinet  where  the  dispute  began  afresh.  The  accusation 
was  precisely  that  by  which  Chancellor  I'Hospital  had  aroused  Cardinal  Lor- 
raine's anger  at  Moulins  ten  years  before  (Rise  of  the  Huguenots,  ii.  186).  The 
duke  was  very  "  malapert  "  with  Catharine.  He  declared  "  that  he  had  never 
done  anything  but  for  the  king's  service,''  and  that  if  he  and  his  friends 
were  to  forsake  Henry,  as  others  had  done,  his  majesty  "  should  have  no  man 
with  him.''  As  this  was  understood  to  be  a  thrust  at  Catharine's  youngest  son, 
she  was  naturally  very  angry.  Dale  to  the  Secretaries,  July  28,  1576,  State 
Paper  Office. 


1576. 


THE  HOLY  LEAGUE. 


103 


guided  subjects,  with  all  the  power  and  authority  God  had 
conferred  upon  him,  instantly  to  abandon  these  "sinister" 
associations,  whatever  oath  they  might  have  taken,  since  no 
oath  could  be  of  force  in  opposition  to  the  oath  that  bound 
them  to  their  king  and  sovereign  loi-d.  By  such  impotent 
remonstrances  did  Henry  oppose,  or  pretend  to  oppose,  the 
progress  of  that  portentous  movement  before  which,  when 
once  it  should  have  developed  its  full  strength,  his  own  author- 
ity was  destined  to  meet  a  disgraceful  fall.' 

The  earliest  symptoms  of  resistance  to  the  royal  commands 
were  shown  on  the  northern  borders.  The  edict  accorded  to 
the  Prince  of  Conde  the  government  of  Picardy,  with 
sists  the  edict.  Peronne  as  his  residence.  Religious  zeal  and  private 
Peronne.  fgu(j  coiispircd  to  nullify  the  concession.  The  gov- 
ernor of  Peronne  was  Jacques  d'Humieres,  the  head  of  the 
most  illustrious  noble  house  of  Picardy,  a  determined  enemy  of 
Protestantism.  lie  was,  moreover,  a  personal  foe  of  the  Mont- 
morencies ;  for  M.  de  Thore  had  successfully  asserted  in  the 
courts  of  law  his  claim  to  a  great  part  of  the  property  of  his 
deceased  wife,  an  heiress  of  the  family  of  Humieres.  The 
governor  found  no  difficulty  in  enlisting  in  his  support  many 
gentlemen  of  the  neighborhood.  Soon  a  league  was  formed 
the  object  of  which  was  ostensibly  the  prevention  of  the  spread 
of  Protestant  influence  in  Picardy.  One  hundred  and  fifty 
persons,  writes  a  contemporary  Italian  diplomatist,  took  part. 
Among  them  were  dependants  of  the  dukes  of  Guise  and 
Aumale.  They  took  pains  to  inform  the  king  that  they  and 
the  whole  nobility  of  the  region  believed  themselves  to  be 
doing  his  majesty  a  most  grateful  service  in  preventing  a  place 
of  such  importance  from  falling  into  the  hands  of  his  enemies, 
his  majesty's  commands  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.'' 

Isot  a  little  obscurity  invests  the  origin  of  the  formidable 
association  which,  under  the  name  of  the  League,  was,  during 

'  "  Instruction  baillee  par  le  Roy  a  Monsieur  le  due  de  Montpensier,  gouver- 
neur  de  Bretagne,  pour  s'opposer  aux  ligues  et  associations  qui  se  faisoient 
contre  I'Estat."    Memoires  de  Nevers,  i.  110-114. 

'  Alamanni  to  the  Grand  Duke,  June  11,  1576,  Negociations  avec  la  Toscane, 
iv.  72. 


104 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OP  NAVARRE. 


Ch.  IL 


the  next  quarter  of  a  century,  to  measure  its  strength  against 
that  of  the  king,  and  to  shake  the  very  foundations  of  the 
„.     ...  throne.    The  combination  of  extreme  men  among  the 

The  origin  of  o 

the  League.  Roman  Catholics  for  the  protection  of  the  supposed 
interests  of  their  faith  was  not  a  new  thing.  Nothing  was  more 
natural  than  concerted  action  for  such  an  end.  When  Jacques 
Lefevre,  in  the  very  dawn  of  the  Reformation,  descried  with 
prophetic  eye  the  rapid  progress  of  the  purer  doctrines,  and 
gave  expression  to  his  expectation  that  "  the  inventions  set  up 
by  the  hand  of  man  would  speedily  be  cast  down,"  the  monk 
who  heard  him  replied,  without  one  moment's  hesitation,  with 
the  threat  of  a  "  crusade  "  to  be  preached  by  himself  and  by  his 
brother  ecclesiastics.  lie  did  not  even  forget  to  add  the  doom 
of  the  monarch  who  might  dare  to  espouse  the  side  of  heresy.' 
Accordingly,  with  the  first  reluctant  concession  of  a  limited 
toleration  to  Protestantism — with  the  first  edict  of  the  crown 
that  seemed  to  admit  that  Protestantism  had  the  barest  right 
to  live — came  symptoms  of  the  active  principle  that  would  per- 
mit no  terms  to  be  made  with  dissent  from  the  established 
church,  or  with  dissenters.  Submission  or  death,  was  the  only 
choice  offered  by  the  clergy  to  "  those  of  the  new  religion." 
The  Roman  pontiff  never  tired  of  reiterating  the  necessit}^  of 
enforcing  this  alternative,  both  in  his  letters  to  the  kings  of 
France  and  in  his  comnmnications  with  such  other  persons  as 
might  be  supposed  to  have  an  influence  in  shaping  the  policy 
of  the  government.  Monks  and  parish  priests  repeated  the 
cruel  lessons  to  the  people  from  ten  thousand  pulpits,  from  the 
steps  of  ten  thousand  altars,  and  doubtless  dropped  hints,  not 
obscure,  of  possible  co-operation  between  the  more  zealous  of 
their  followers.  How  early  the  idea  of  a  union  of  the  "  better 
Catholics  "  for  the  defence  of  their  imperilled  faith  took  definite 
form,  and  became  a  practical  reality,  is  uncertain.  It  could  not, 
however,  have  been  long  after  the  publication  of  the  edict  of 
Amboise  (1563).  The  provisions  of  that  edict,  far  short  as  they 
came  of  the  privileges  granted  by  the  January  edict  of  the 
previous  year,  savored,  in  the  opinion  of  the  ecclesiastics  and 


See  the  Rise  of  the  Huguenots,  i.  76. 


157C. 


THE  HOLY  LEAGUE. 


105 


theii'  faction,  as  tnily,  if  not  as  strongly,  of  impious  connivance 
with  the  crime  of  lieresy.  Hence  the  "  Fraternities  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,"  that  made  their  appearance  in  Burgundy,  within  a  year 
or  two  after  the  conclusion  of  the  first  peace,  having  it  for  their 
avowed  object  to  wage  perpetual  war  against  the  Huguenots.' 
Hence,  too,  "  the  Christian  and  Royal  League,"  of  Champagne, 
a  few  years  later,  for  the  maintenance  of  the  true  Catholic  and 
Roman  Church  of  God — an  association  which,  like  its  predeces- 
sors, aroused  the  jealousy  and  incurred  the  condemnation  of  the 
monarch. 

In  its  germ,  therefore,  the  League  had  a  domestic  origin.  It 
sprang  from  the  suggestions  of  the  French  clergy.  There 
seems  to  be  no  necessity  for  seeking  its  source  outside  of  the 
kingdom.  Yet  the  fact  cannot  be  overlooked  that  the  name 
and  authority  of  the  king  of  Spain  begin  very  early  to  be  as- 
sociated with  the  patronage  and  growth  of  the  institution. 
Philip  the  Second  was  so  much  in  the  mouth  of  Jean  Begat,  the 
councillor  in  the  Parliament  of  Dijon  to  whom  the  Burgundian 
confraternities  owed  their  institution,  as  to  excite  general  as- 
tonishment and  indignation  that  he  was  permitted  to  make 
such  insolent  reference  to  a  king  dangerous  to  France  from  the 
very  proximity  of  his  dominions.  And  certainly  Philip  and 
his  minister.  Cardinal  Granvelle,  were  not  slow  to  perceive  the 
innnense  advantage  that  might  accrue  from  the  impression  now 
beginning  to  gain  ground,  that  his  Catholic  majesty  was  the 
natural  defender  of  the  orthodox  faith,  a  faith  to  which  Charles 
the  Ninth  and  his  mother  were  represented  as  lukewarm.  It 
was  not  without  significance  that  the  cardinal  was  said  to  have 
caused  the  intolerant  address  of  Jean  Begat,  in  which  he  tried 
to  prove  the  existence  of  two  religions  in  France  an  insult  to 
God  and  dangerous  to  public  tranquillity,  to  be  printed  and 
published  at  Antwerp.^ 

AVith  the  massacre  of  Saint  Bartholomew's  day,  and  the  sup- 

'  "Ineuntur  .  .  .  sodalitates  quas  Sancti  Spiritus  confraternitates  vo- 
cant,  de  sempitenio  ad  versus  Huguenotos  bello  indiceudo."  Jean  de  Serres 
(edit,  of  1571),  iii.  53. 

» See  the  Rise  of  the  Huguenots,  ii.  179,  180,  246. 

'  Jean  de  Serres,  iibi  supra,  and  De  Thou,  iii.  503,  who  is  here,  as  in  many 
other  places,  greatly  indebted  to  this  excellent  autlior. 


106 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HEXRY  OF  NAVARRE.        Ch.  U. 


posed  annihilation  of  the  Huguenots  throughout  France,  the 
Roman  Catholic  associations  fell  into  neglect  and  were  aban- 
doned. There  seemed  to  be  no  foe  against  whom  to  defend 
the  faith.  But  the  fourth,  and  especially  the  fifth,  religious 
Revirai  of  Toughlv  awakcucd  the  zealots  from  their  dream 

afteJthf^  of  fancied  security.  And  now  a  pacification  had 
massacre.  come  couccding  everything  to  the  detested  heretics — 
a  peace  which  could  artfully  be  represented  as  even  more  fav- 
orable to  the  Hu£iuenots  than  to  the  followers  of  the  kino:.  For 
were  not  the  most  humiliating  distinctions  made  between  the 
two  parties  ?  Was  not  pro%dsion  made  for  the  prompt  payment 
of  the  reiters  of  the  Prince  of  Conde,  while  the  king's  reiters 
bade  fair  to  wait  long  for  their  wages  ?  Were  not  the  Hugue- 
not peasantry  declared  exempt  of  all  impositions  levied  during 
the  war,  while  the  Roman  Catholics  were  compelled  to  pay  up 
all  arrears  even  so  far  back  as  four  years  {  " ' 

To  the  facility  Avith  which  associations  were  henceforth 
formed  Henry  the  Third  had  unconsciously  contributed  greatly, 
by  the  favor  he  had  in  the  past  shown  to  the  religious  frater- 
nities. The  fantastic  superstition  of  the  Penitents, 
ties  of  Peni-  clad  in  white,  blue,  or  black,  furnished  the  pretext 
utetothere-  for  meetings  having  quite  another  object  than  self- 
humiliation.  Under  the  skilful  guidance  of  ghostly 
advisers,  the  farce  became  sober  earnest,  and,  in  the  end,  the 
lash  that  had  been  so  lightly  laid  upon  the  king's  shoulders, 
became  a  veiy  scourge,  drawing  forth  from  the  miserable  mon- 
arch real  sighs  and  tears.  The  zealots,  whom  the  devotional 
meetings  of  the  fraternity  permitted  to  assemble  without  excit- 
ing suspicion,  soon  passed  from  lamentations  over  the  sins  and 
misery  of  the  age  to  a  free  discussion  of  political  measures  and 
a  censure  of  the  government.  From  this  to  a  regular  organiza- 
tion, for  purposes  of  active  warfare  in  the  interest  of  shrewd 
leaders,  the  step  was  short  and  easy.' 

'  "  Et  qui  plus  est,  quand  ce  vient  au  traite  de  pais,  ceux  qui  out  suivvleur 
party,  sont  declarez  exempts  de  toutes  impositions  faites  durant  la  guerre,  et 
les  nostres  sont  coutraints  de  payer  les  arrerages  jusqu'a  quatre  annees." 
Letter  of  Montluc,  Bishop  of  Valence,  remonstrating  against  a  renewal  of  the 
war,  Memoires  de  Nevers,  i.  472.  '■  Davila,  221. 


1576. 


THE  HOLY  LEAGUE. 


107 


"  The  Prelates,  Lords,  Gentlemen,  Captains,  and  Soldiers  in- 
habiting the  cities  and  flat  country  of  Picardy  " — so  they  styled 
themselves — set  forth  a  manifesto  and  an  oath.    In  the  former 
they  iustified  their  action  by  alleginy-  that  their  ene- 

Manifestoof         .       ,      i      ,  .  ,  ,      i  ,  ,  •        •  , 

the  League  mies  had  "  hitherto  had  no  other  end  m  view  than  to 
establish  errors  and  heresies  in  this  kingdom,  from 
all  time  very  Christian  and  Catholic,  to  annihilate  the  ancient 
religion,  to  exterminate  those  who  make  inviolable  profession 
of  it,  to  undermine  gradually  the  power  and  authority  of  the 
king,  to  change  his  state  in  everything  and  everywhere,  and  to 
introduce  another  and  novel  form  of  government."  After  these 
general  grounds  for  their  "  common  accord  and  holy  union," 
the  writers  proceeded  to  state  its  particular  occasion  to  be  the 
information,  obtained  from  some  of  the  gentlemen  and  soldiers 
of  Condc's  suite,  of  that  prince's  intention,  so  soon  as  the  city 
of  Peronne  should  be  entrusted  to  his  hands,  to  make  it  the 
Protestant  capital,  with  prospective  results  of  ruin,  not  only  to 
the  province  of  Picardy,  but  to  Paris  itself.  Against  such  dis- 
aster they  expressed  the  hope  that  they  might  receive  the  help 
of  all  the  princes,  prelates,  and  noljlemen  of  the  realm,  in  view 
of  the  fact  that  the  "  rebels  "  had  plotted  the  death  of  their 
majesties  and  of  the  Duke  of  Anjou,  the  annihilation  of  the 
holy  faith,  and  the  ruin  of  the  French  people.  A  holy  and 
Christian  union  and  perfect  intelligence  and  co-operation  be- 
tween all  the  good,  faithful,  and  loyal  subjects  of  the  king,  was 
declared  to  be  the  true  and  only  means  reserved  by  God  for 
the  restoration  of  religion  and  of  the  realm.  The  document 
contained  other  provisions  for  securing  the  efficiency  and  ex- 
tension of  the  league  ;  but  these  need  not  detain  us. 

The  oath  accompanying  the  manifesto  became  the  form 
which,  with  slight  modifications,  was  adopted  by  every  simi- 
oathofthe  ^ssociatlon  throughout  France.     Three  objects 

League.  were  set  fortli  as  the  great  ends  contemplated  :  To  re- 
establish the  Roman  Catholic  and  Apostolic  Church  ;  to  pre- 
serve Henry,  by  the  grace  of  God,  third  of  the  name,  and  his 
successors,  very  Christian  kings,  in  the  state,  splendor,  author- 
ity, service,  duty,  and  obedience  due  to  him  by  his  subjects,  as 
contained  in  the  articles  that  should  be  presented  to  hiui  at  tlie 


108 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE. 


Ch.  II, 


states  ;  and  to  restore  to  the  provinces  of  the  reahn  their  an- 
cient rights  and  liberties  snch  as  they  were  in  the  time  of  Clo- 
vis,  the  first  Christian  king.  To  this  and  to  promises  of  faith- 
ful and  nnswerving  obedience  to  the  constituted  head  of  the 
League  every  member  gave  in  his  adhesion  by  calling  on  the 
name  of  God  his  Creator,  by  laying  his  hand  upon  the  Gospel, 
and  by  invoking  the  pains  of  exconnnunication  and  everlasting 
damnation  in  case  of  disobedience.' 

Such  were  the  be<2:innino;s  of  the  new  association  that  was 
within  a  few  months  to  spread  over  a  great  part  of  France,  and 
for  which  its  friends  prepared  the  way  by  assurances  boldly 
given  that  although  the  king  was  compelled  to  disavow  and 
condemn  it,  he  secretly  wished  the  project  good  success. 

Meanwhile  the  Prince  of  Conde  in  vain  demanded  the  ful- 
filment of  the  stipulations  of  the  treaty  made  in  his  favor. 
cond6and  Obtaining,  however,  the  promise  of  the  towns  of 
Navarre.  Saint  Jcau  d'Auguly  and  Cognac,  in  Poitou,  in  lieu 
of  unattainable  Peronne,  he  secured  possession  of  them  by  a 
prompt  and  sudden  movement,  to  the  surprise  and  possibly  to 
the  regret  of  those  who  had  desired  merely  to  quiet  his  impor- 
tunity.' Henry  of  Xavarre,  equally  cautious  with  his  cousin 
not  to  trust  his  person  to  the  doubtful  faith  of  his  late  enemies, 
preferred  La  Rochelle  to  the  allurements  of  the  royal  court. 
But  the  independent  and  pardonably  suspicious  character  of 
the  inhabitants  again  manifested  itself.  They  neither  would 
admit  him  with  his  Roman  Catholic  suite  (for  they  recognized 
Caution  of  auioug  liis  followers  some  who  had  played  a  bloody 
La  Rochelle.  -p^n't  in  the  Parisian  matins),'  nor  would  they  allow 
him  to  sit  on  a  dais,  which  they  maintained  to  be  the  preroga- 
tive of  the  sovereign  alone.  But  when  the  Roman  Catholics 
had  been  left  outside  of  the  walls,  when  Henry  and  his  sister 


'  The  manifesto  of  the  League  of  Peronne  is  given  Vy  Agrippa  d'Aubigne, 
ii.  223-228.  The  oatli  may  be  found  ibidem,  ii.  228-230  ;  in  the  Recueil  des 
choses  memorables,  579-581  ;  in  Davila,  222,  223 ;  and,  with  some  errors  of 
transcription,  in  Loutchitzky,  Documents  inedits  pour  servir  a  I'histoire  de  la 
Reform©  et  de  la  Ligue,  39-42. 

*  Davila,  etc. 

'     Gens  qui  avoient  joue  du  cousteau  a  la  S.  Barthelemi." 


1573. 


THE  HOLY  LEAGUE. 


109 


Catharine  had  made  all  due  public  recognition  of  their  fault  in 
attending  the  papal  mass,  under  compulsion,  and  had  shown 
much  sadness  of  countenance  and  shed  tears,  we  are  told  that 
even  the  unimpressionable  liochellese  received  the  culprit  with 
something  approaching  their  former  good-will.' 

Kone  the  less,  however,  did  La  Rochelle,  a  few  months  later, 
take  alarm  when  Conde  made  himself  master  of  the  neighbor- 
ing port  of  Brouage.  A  serious  division  of  sentiment  arose  in 
the  citj,  and  the  prince,  who  had  been  invited  to  enter  the 
Huguenot  capital  in  the  same  quiet  manner  as  the  King  of 
Isavarre,  was  soon  after  requested  to  defer  his  coming  until  a 
more  propitious  time.  When  at  last  he  was  again  requested  to 
visit  La  Rochelle,  he  came  (on  the  fourth  of  December)  only 
to  accuse  the  mayor  and  his  party  of  a  treacherous  scheme  to 
betray  the  city  to  the  king  upon  a  guarantee  that  its  municipal 
privileges  should  be  formally  acknowledged  and  its  anomalous 
claim  of  a  virtual  independence  receive  the  express  sanction  of 
his  majesty.  It  would  seem  pi-obable  that  the  prince  and  the 
sturdy  champions  of  La  Rochelle  were  equally  in  the  wrong, 
and  that  the  treason  of  the  mayor  was  as  much  a  creation  of 
the  imagination  as  were  the  alleged  ambitious  designs  of 
Conde.  At  any  rate,  it  was  fortunate  that  the  rapid  approach 
of  more  real  dangers  proved  sufficient  to  dissipate  suspicions  on 
both  sides  that  may  have  been  groundless,  and  to  unite  the 
Rochellese  and  the  Bourbons  in  a  common  struggle  for  the 
defence  of  their  faith.' 


'  Agrippa  d'Aubignp,  ii.  219  ;  Miimoires  de  Sully,  chap.  vii.  Letters  of 
Henry  of  Navarre  to  the  "maire,  cchevins  et  pairs  de  La  Rochelle,  '  Niort, 
June  16,  and  Surgeres,  June  26,  1576,  in  Dussieux,  Lettres  intimes  de  Henri 
IV.  (Paris,  1876),  39,  41,  42,  and  in  Arc&re,  Histoire  de  La  Rochelle,  ii.  18. 
In  the  second  communication,  he  assures  the  Rochellese  that  he  desires  no 
solemn  entry  as  governor  and  royal  lieutenant-general,  and  does  not  aim  at 
establishing  any  one  else  as  governor,  but  wishes  to  come  in  simply  with  his 
household  attendants,  according  to  the  list  that  he  has  handed  in,  and  bring- 
ing with  him  no  suspected  persons. 

-'  The  view  of  the  quarrel  taken  by  De  Thou,  v.  336-8,  and  by  Agrippa 
d'Aubigne,  ii.  231,  232,  is  very  favorable  to  the  prince.  See  also  Languet's 
letter  of  February  3,  1577,  Epistohe  secretie,  i.  277.  Arcere  gives,  ii.  22-29, 
from  La  Popeliniere,  a  representation  more  creditable  to  the  citizens. 


110 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE. 


Cu.  II. 


An  incident  that  occurred  in  Kouen  about  this  time  revealed 
very  clearly  the  spirit  animating  the  clergy  and  no  inconsider- 
able part  of  the  Roman  Catholics  of  France.  At  the  conclusion 
of  the  peace,  the  Parliament  of  ]S^ormandy,  having  received  ex- 
(,gj.j;jj^,3g^^_plicit  orders  from  the  court  to  abstain  from  remon- 
Huguenrts^^  strauccs,  had  entered  the  edict  upon  its  registers  and 
of  Rouen.  \^^([  solemnly  sworn  its  observance.  This  was  on  the 
twenty-second  of  May.  "  Nothing,"  dryly  observes  the  his- 
torian of  the  parliament,  "  was  more  frequent  at  the  time  than 
oaths."  At  heart  all  the  judges  were  beside  themselves  with 
indignation  at  the  very  thought  of  harboring  Protestant 
worship  inside  of  the  walls  of  a  city  that  prided  itself  upon  its 
orthodoxy.  However,  old  Cardinal  Bourbon,  Archbishop  of 
Rouen,  in  response  to  an  appeal  addressed  to  him  to  use  all  his 
influence  with  the  king  for  the  purpose  of  inducing  his  Majesty 
to  remove  the  hated  "  preche,"  sent  comforting  messages  to 
his  flock.  "  After  I  have  accompanied  his  majesty  on  his 
contemplated  visit  to  the  sea-ports  of  Normandy,  I  shall  come 
to  Rouen  and  spend  some  time  there,  expelling  the  heretics 
and  taking  all  necessary  steps."  '  A  few  days  later,  the  prelate 
repeated  these  assurances,  and  promised  the  canons,  when  they 
came  to  meet  him  at  the  abbey  of  Jumieges,  that  he  would 
soon  be  at  his  archiepiscopal  see  and  try  every  means  to  put  an 
end  to  the  preaching  which  had  been  introduced  into  the  city.''  A 
fortnight  passed  and  the  pledge  was  redeemed.  One  July  day 
the  Huguenots  were  peaceably  assembled  in  the  place  of 
worship  assigned  to  them  in  accordance  with  the  recent  treaty, 
when  the  news  reached  them  that  a  pompous  procession  was 
approaching.  It  was  the  cardinal  archbishop,  accompanied  by 
Claude  de  Sainctes,  Bishop  of  Evreux,  and  an  ample  train  of 
canons  and  other  ecclesiastical  dignitaries,  and  preceded  by  the 
great  cross  of  the  cathedral.  It  was  not  strange  that  the 
Huguenot  minister  thought  it  advisable  to  consult  his  own 
safety  in  prompt  flight.    As  for  the  laity,  having  no  time  to 

'  "  Pour  en  expulser  les  hereticques  et  faire  ce  qui  sera  necessaire."  Reg. 
capit.  ecclesise  Rotliom.,  June  26,  1576,  apud  Floquet,  Histoire  du  parlement 
de  Normandie,  iii.  164. 

-  Reg.  capit.  ecclesiae  Botbom. ,  July  11,  1576,  ibid.,  iii.  165. 


1576. 


THE  HOLY  LEAGUE. 


Ill 


withdraw,  they  waited  in  some  trepidation  to  see  what  the 
result  would  be.  Happily  it  fared  better  with  them  than  it  had 
fared,  fourteen  years  before,  with  the  Huguenot  worshippers  of 
Vassy.  Cardinal  Bourbon  was  not  famous  as  a  preacher,  but 
on  this  occasion  he  took  the  pulpit  and  delivered  a  long  sermon 
not  much  to  the  taste  of  his  unwilling  hearers.  It  cannot  be 
said  that  the  discourse  contained  anything  novel,  but  its  state- 
ments were  strange  enough  in  such  a  place.  The  speaker 
mingled  invitations  with  threats.  He  assured  the  Protestants 
that  he  reached  forth  his  arms  to  receive  them  into  his  em- 
brace. He  ridiculed  the  idea  that  the  truth  had  not  been 
known,  and  that  there  had  been  no  church,  for  fifteen  hundred 
years  and  over,  nor,  indeed,  until  the  reformers  made  their 
appearance,  some  sixty  years  since.  If  we  may  credit  the 
doctor  of  theology  to  whom  we  are  indebted  for  the  pi-eserva- 
tion  of  Cardinal  Bourbon's  first  and  greatest  oratorical  effort, 
the  results  were  so  striking  that  they  might  have  turned  a  head 
less  well  balanced.  That  very  day  the  cathedral  was  thronged 
by  a  pious  crowd,  which,  as  counted  by  a  knight  of  the  Holy 
Sepulchre,  numbered  about  twenty-one  thousand  persons.  The 
church,  we  are  told,  seemed  to  be  the  city  and  only  home  of  all 
— so  empty  were  the  streets.  It  was  a  kind  of  new  ci-eation 
for  the  city  of  Rouen,  and  it  sealed  the  fate  of  the  Huguenot 
preaching  in  the  Xorman  capital.  Forty  of  the  Protestant 
worshippers  of  the  morning  congregation  were  heard  to  declare 
that  they  had  done  forever  with  the  Peformed  worship.' 

Such  was  the  story  of  what  the  cardinal  was  accustomed  to 
call  his  "  inspiration  " — an  act  which  the  Huguenots  denounced 
as  a  flagrant  outrage  and  an  insolent  defiance  of  the  royal  au- 
thority, an  act  which  the  cardinal's  admirers  applauded  as  a 
justifiable  assertion  of  his  duty  as  a  shepherd  toward  his  erring 
flock."    As  for  the  king,  when  informed  of  the  prelate's  exploit. 


'  "  La  saincte  et  tres  chrestienne  resolution  de  Monseigneur  I'illustrissime  et 
rev^rendissime  Cardinal  de  Bourbon,  pour  maintenir  la  religion  catholique  et 
I'eglise  romaine.  Par  T.  J.  B.  (Berson)  Parisien,  docteur  en  tlieologie  et 
frere  mineur."  Paris,  1586.  Archives  curieuses,  xi.  63-87.  See,  also, 
Lestoile,  ii.  73  ;  Agrippa  d'Anbigne,  ii.  230. 

-Claude  Eaton  tells  us  that  the  cardinal,  when  forbidding  tlie  Protestants 


112 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE. 


Ch.  II. 


lie  did  not  pause  in  his  right  royal  pastime  of  frolicking  with 
his  dogs.  One  feature  of  the  incident,  however,  struck  hiin  as 
sufficiently  singular  to  merit  a  jest.  Wlien  informed  how  the 
cardinal  had  succeeded  in  scattering  the  Huguenots  of  Rouen  bv 
means  of  his  cross,  Henry  quietly  observed :  "  I  wish  that  it 
were  as  easy  to  put  to  flight  the  rest  of  the  Huguenots,  even 
if  the  basin  of  holy  water  and  all  had  to  be  brought  into 
requisition." ' 

This  incident  was  a  straw  that  indicated  the  drift  of  things. 
That  an  archbishop  should  thus  dare  to  violate  decency  and 
brave  the  indignation  of  a  little  knot  of  Protestant  worshippers, 
Threatening  intensely  Eoman  Catholic  city,  by  an  unseendy 

indications,  interruption  of  a  solemn  religious  service,  was  not  in 
itself  a  very  singular  circumstance.  That  his  impudent  and 
lawless  act  should  remain  unpunished,  despite  the  complaints  of 
those  whom  he  had  insulted  and  their  partisans,  was  a  more 
significant  fact  full  of  menace  to  the  Huguenots.  But  Cardinal 
Bourbon's  exploit  did  not  stand  alone.  Other  disquieting  in- 
telligence came  from  various  quarters.  It  was  esteemed  good 
ground  for  suspicion  that  the  king  had  sent  Gondy,  Bishop  of 
Paris,  to  the  papal  court,  and,  through  his  instrumentality,  had 
secured  from  the  pontiff  a  bull  authorizing  a  considerable  aliena- 
tion of  church  property.  The  concession,  it  was  thought, 
looked  to  a  speedy  renewal  of  war.''  The  claims  of  the  late 
ally  of  the  Huguenots,  Duke  John  Casimir,  appeared  to  receive 
very  little  consideration,  when  once  he  had,  by  the  promise  of 
the  payment  of  a  part  of  what  was  owed  him,  been  induced  to 
remove  his  hungry  reiters  to  the  borders  of  the  land.'  More 
ominous  infractions  of  the  edict  were  the  insults  to  which  the 


from  assembling  again  for  worship,  asserted  "  that  the  right  appertained  to 
him,  and  not  to  the  king,  to  preach  or  authorize  preaching  in  his  diocese." 
Memoires,  ii.  861. 

'  "  A  la  charge  qu'on  y  deust  porter  le  benoistier  et  tout."    Lestoile,  i.  73. 

'  None  the  less  did  the  bull  excite  the  anger  of  the  clergy  and  call  forth  an 
unusual  amount  of  denunciation  from  the  pulpits  of  Paris.  The  alienation 
permitted  the  sale  of  property  producing  an  annual  income  of  50,000  crowns. 
Lestoile,  under  date  of  August  13,  1576,  i.  75. 

^  Saracini  to  the  Grand  Duke,  July,  1576,  Negociations  avec  la  Toscane,  iv. 
75,  76  ;  De  Thou,  v.  322-4. 


1576. 


THE  HOLY  LEAGUE. 


113 


Protestants  of  Paris  were  exposed  as  they  went  to  or  returned 
from  Noisj-le-sec,  the  place  which  liad  heen  grudgingly  accorded 
them  for  their  religious  services.  On  two  successive  Sundays, 
the  twenty-third  and  thirtieth  of  September,  the  Huguenot 
worshippers,  as  they  neared  the  city  or  entered  its  streets,  were 
greeted  with  a  shower  of  stones.  Swords  were  drawn,  and 
some  persons  were  killed  and  many  wounded.'  From  other 
places  where  the  edict  permitted  the  Protestants  to  meet  for 
worship  their  ministers  were  driven  away.  The  "  cliambre 
mi-partie "  was  not  established  in  most  of  the  parliaments ;  in 
several  of  these  courts  of  law  the  edict  of  pacification  itself  had 
not  been  recognized  and  published,  and  decisions  contrary  to  its 
spirit  and  letter  had  been  made."  As  time  advanced  it  became 
more  and  more  clear  that  the  states  general,  for  the  convocation 
of  which  the  Huguenots  had  been  so  urgent,  were  to  be  employed 
as  an  instrument  in  their  destruction.  The  representatives  of 
the  entire  nation,  it  was  distinctly  announced  by  the  enemies  of 
toleration,  would  have  the  power  to  release  the  king  from  the 
engagements  into  which  he  had  entered.  That  the  coming- 
assembly  should  contain  a  vast  preponderance  of  those  who 
favored  a  repeal  of  the  royal  edict,  was  the  evident  aim  of  the 
Guises  and  of  all  who  sympathized  with  them.  The  marriage 
of  the  Duke  of  Aumale  to  the  sister  of  the  Mai-quis  of  Elbeuf 
furnished  the  occasion  for  a  meeting  of  the  different  members 
of  the  powerful  Lorraine  family  at  Joinville  ;  but  it  was  matter 
of  public  notoriet}'  that  the  gathering  had  more  significance 
than  its  festive  character  imported,  and  that  shrewd  men  there 


'  Lestoile,  i.  78  ;  Claude  Haton,  ii.  867.  Noisy-le-sec  was  about  two  leagues 
distant  from  tlie  walls  of  Paris,  in  an  easterly  direction  ;  it  is  scarcely  half 
that  distance  from  the  present  walls,  and  gives  its  name  to  a  neighboring  out- 
work, one  of  the  cordon  of  forts  by  which  the  capital  is  encircled.  See,  also, 
the  letters  of  Dr.  Dale,  of  October  2,  137C,  and  of  Dr.  Dale  and  Sir  Amias 
Paulet  (who  came  to  succeed  Dale  as  English  ambassador  at  the  French  court), 
October  1.3,  1576,  which  show  the  gravity  of  the  attack  and  the  supineness  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  authorities.    State  Paper  Office. 

See  the  summary  as  set  forth  l)y  Casimir's  envoy.  Doctor  Weyer,  De  Thou, 
V.  322-324,  and  Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  ii.  222.     Among  the  places  from  wliich 
Protestant  ministers  were  driven  away,  Lyons,  Gien,  Rouen,  Metz,  and  Saint 
L6  were  particularly  mentioned. 
Vol.  L— 8 


114 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRR 


Ch.  IL 


discussed  the  means  of  collecting  money  and  massing  forces  in 
view  of  the  assembly  of  Blois.' 

Meantime,  in  Poitou  and  other  provinces  similar  associations 
to  the  League  of  Peronne  were  industriously  formed.   In  Paris 
,  itself  the  agents  endeavored  to  shelter  themselves 

Extensiou  of  o 

the  League,  under  the  pretended  favor  of  the  king,  and  main- 
tained that  Christopher  De  Thou,  the  first  president  of  parlia- 
ment, was  cognizant  of  Henry's  secret  intentions.  But  De 
Thou,  if  we  may  believe  his  son's  representations,  firmly  and, 
for  the  time,  successfully  opposed  the  institution  of  the  League 
in  the  capital."  Elsewhere  the  true  and  loyal  servants  of  the 
king  were  less  active  or  less  able  to  cope  with  the  nefarious 
scheme  that  seemed  so  suddenly  to  have  sprung  into  existence. 
For  to  the  energy  of  the  Guises  the  far-reaching  influence  of  a 
new  and  vigorous  religious  society  had  allied  itself.  The  Jesuit 
fathers,  if  not  the  authors  of  the  League,  as  some  asserted, 
are  credited  with  the  doubtful  honor  of  having  been  its  chief 
promoters  and  preachers.'  Where  their  own  numbers  were 
not  sufficient  to  enable  them  to  act  directly,  the  Franciscan 
monks  became  their  instruments  in  moving  the  people. 

It  was  under  such  circumstances  that  the  royal  summons  was 
issued  (on  the  sixth  of  August)  for  the  convocation  of  the  states 
general  at  Blois,  on  the  fifteenth  of  Xovember  following. 
"While  the  Huguenots  were  industriously  exerting  themselves  to 
restore  their  churches  overthrown  by  war,  while  it  was  even 
asserted  by  men  worthy  of  confidence  that  more  than  five  hun- 
dred churches  had  been  re-established,  especially  in  Dauphiny 
and  Languedoc,  since  the  conclusion  of  peace,  and  that  the  num- 
ber might  be  greatly  increased  but  for  the  lack  of  ministers  of 
the  gospel  '  —  the  enemies  of  Protestantism  were  leaving  no  stone 


'  Saracini  to  the  Grand  Dake,  September  22,  1576,  Negociations  avec  la 
Toscane,  iv.  82. 

-  De  Thou,  V.  316,  317. 

3  Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  ii.  223,  280. 
Languet,  letters  of  August  16  and  26,  1576,  Epistolse  secretfe,  ii.  215,  218. 
The  veteran  diplomatist,  although  at  this  time  writing  from  Ratisbon,  kept  him- 
self admirably  well  informed  respecting  France.  In  fact,  so  much  did  he  have 
to  do  with  his  countrymen,  and  especially  the  French  ambassador,  that  he  in- 
curred the  displeasure  of  some  persons  at  the  imperial  court.    He  took  pains 


1576. 


THE  HOLY  LEAGUE. 


115 


unturned  to  frastrate  the  reasonable  hopes  of  the  reformers. 
Protestant  worship  had  not  yet  been  instituted  in  the  larger 
and  more  powerful  cities  of  the  realm.  The  plea  for  delay  was 
that  only  by  delay  could  dangerous  tumults  be  avoided.  The 
Protestants  expected  that  the  coming  states  would  remedy  the 
entire  difficulty.'  The  papal  part}',  on  the  contrary,  were  re- 
solved that,  so  far  from  being  admitted  into  the 
Catholic  re-  cities,  Protcstantism  should  not  have  a  place  anywhere 
within  France.  The  intentions  of  the  Guises  became 
more  and  more  evident.  New  articles  of  association  between 
the  Roman  Catholics  were  concocted,  and  printed  at  court  so 
secretly  that  a  copy  could  hardly  be  secured  by  any  one  not  be- 
longing to  the  circle  most  interested  in  the  proscriptive  work. 
The  very  violence  of  the  seditious  pamphlets  and  broadsheets 
made  the  envoy  Saracini  doubt  whether  they  were  in  reality 
the  production  of  Guisard  emissaries,  and  did  not  rather,  as 
seemed  more  likely,  emanate  from  the  facile  pen  of  unscrupu- 
lous Huguenots  or  scarcely  less  dangerous  Roman  Catholics  of 
the  faction  of  the  "  Politiques,"  being  intended  to  generate  sus- 
picion and  alarm  in  the  ranks  of  the  followers  of  the  King  of 
Navarre.^  At  least  they  pointed  unmistakably  to  war,  and 
tended  to  render  the  convocation  of  the  states  general  a  futile 
expedient,  should  indeed  the  states  be  convoked  at  all. 

If  the  Huguenots  were  suspicious  of  treachery  where  none 
was  really  plotted,  their  opponents  could  scarcely  deny  that  few 
The  suspi-  "^^^  ^^^'^  ^^^r  had  so  good  reason  as  they  for  enter- 
HugueLu*^  taining  distrust.  Calm  men  of  affairs  might  weigh 
arousBd.  motives  of  the  king  with  moderation,  and  balanc- 

ing Henry's  known  impecunious  state  against  his  hatred  of 
Protestantism,  might  conclude  that  the  preponderance  of  prob- 

however,  to  justify  his  course,  first  by  alleging  tlie  necessity  of  gaining  accu- 
rate information  for  his  master,  the  Elector  of  Saxony,  and,  secondly,  by 
acknowledging  that  he  still  retained  such  affection  for  his  native  land  as  to  be 
eager  to  learn  the  events  daily  occurring  there,  and  especially  in  a  time  of 
such  mutation  and  uncertain  hope  of  peace.  Ibid.,  i.  228. 
'  Languet,  ubi  supra. 

•  "  Per  generare  sospetto  nella  parte  del  re  di  Navara  e  di  altri  di  quella 
fazione."  Saracini  to  the  Grand  Duke,  October  10  and  Novembers,  1576, 
N^gociations  avec  la  Toscane,  iv.  8*3,  85,  86. 


116 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.        Ch.  II. 


ability  was  in  favor  of  the  sincere  purpose  of  tlie  monarch  to 
maintain  the  edict  he  had  lately  sworn  to  preserve  inviolate. 
They  might  urge  that  no  clearer  proof  could  he  found  of  the 
straits  to  which  Henry  was  reduced  than  the  fact  that,  when  four 
months  had  passed  since  the  restoration  of  peace,  his  German 
mercenaries  still  remained  unpaid  and  could  not  therefore  be 
disbanded ;  although  their  wages  were  running  up  at  the  rate 
of  half  a  million  francs  a  month,  not  to  speak  of  the  immense 
loss  inflicted  upon  the  country  by  their  daily  exactions.  They 
might  consequently  scout  the  popular  interpretation  of  the  con- 
tinued presence  of  the  reiters  as  an  evidence  of  the  king's  in- 
tention to  overwhelm  the  Huguenots  in  due  time.'  But  the 
King  of  Kavarre,  the  Prince  of  Conde,  and  Marshal  Damville, 
having  had  very  large  experience  of  Medicean  arts,  and  being 
tolerably  well  instructed  as  to  the  necessity  of  caution,  took 
quite  another  view  of  the  situation,  and,  as  the  time  approached 
for  the  meeting  at  Blois,  sent  a  gentleman  to  wait  upon  the  king 
and  protest  against  the  validity  of  the  states  general,  in  view 
of  the  retention  of  the  German  reiters."  And  they  very  clearly 
amiounced  their  determination  to  stand  upon  their  defence 
should  any  one  attempt  to  deprive  them  and  their  allies  of  the 
rights  and  privileges  tardily  conceded  to  them  in  the  late  edict 
of  pacification.^ 

Meanwhile,  how  was  the  fortunate  youth  occupied  to  whom, 
according  to  the  law  of  primogeniture,  the  supreme  power  be- 
longed ;  the  last  monarch  of  Yalois  race  who,  not  content  with 
one  crown,  still  claimed,  as  his  chosen  device  showed,  the 

crown  of  Poland,  not  to  speak  of  another  crown 
nobi^puf-     which,  his  admirers  said,  awaited  him  in  heaven? 

What  were  the  lofty  pursuits  of  Henry,  by  the  grace 
of  God  third  of  the  name,  on  whose  faithful  observance  of  his 
oath  or  perjured  violation  of  his  edict  the  political  and  spiritual 
destinies  of  millions  of  anxious  subjects  seemed  to  depend  ? 
The  sprightly  diary  of  a  well-informed  contemporary  informs 


'  Languet,  letter  of  September  28,  Epistolae  secretae,  i.  232,  233. 

•  Saraciui,  letter  of  October  30,  Negociatious  avec  la  Toscaue,  iv.  84. 

'  Recueil  des  clioses  memorables,  583,  584. 


1576. 


THE  HOLY  LEAGUE. 


117 


lis  with  considerable  detail.  Had  the  pleasnre-loving  king  ap- 
plied himself  to  the  search  of  the  best  methods  for  earning  the 
contempt  of  all  classes  of  the  people,  he  conld  scarcely  have  dis- 
covered any  course  more  appropriate  than  that  which  he 
adopted.  One  day  he  returns  from  Normandy  to  Paris,  with 
the  queen  his  wife,  bringing  a  great  quantity  of  apes,  parrots, 
and  little  dogs,  bought  at  Dieppe.  A  few  weeks  pass,  and 
Henry  is  seen  devoutly  engaged  in  the  effort  to  gain  the  ad- 
vantages of  the  jubilee  proclaimed  by  the  pope.  Attended  by 
only  two  or  three  persons,  he  walks  through  the  streets  of  his 
capital  barefooted,  holding  a  rosary  of  large  beads  in  his  hands, 
and  mumbling  the  accustomed  prayers.  The  people,  who  have 
recently  had  some  experience  of  his  devices  for  I'elieving  a 
chronic  depletion  of  purse,  interpret  this  unkingly  devotion  as  a 
new  plan,  suggested  by  the  queen  mother,  to  extract  money 
from  the  pockets  of  the  Parisians ;  but  the  Parisians  only  close 
their  pockets  the  more  resolutely,  and  write  pasquinades  in  place 
of  very  loyal  addresses.  When  not  in  the  streets,  Henry  is  in 
the  congenial  company  of  "his  favorites,  to  whom  now  the 
name  of  "  mignons  "  begins  to  be  opprobriously  applied— men, 
if  they  deserve  the  name  of  men,  as  hateful  to  the  outside 
world  for  their  arrogance  and  for  their  effeminacy,  as  they  were 
dear  to  his  majesty  for  the  fertility  of  their  imagination  in  in- 
venting new  kinds  of  diversions — men  for  whom  amusement 
has  become  the  staple  occupation  of  life — men  that  Avear  their 
hair,  redolent  of  perfumes,  and  curled  with  consummate  art, 
rising  above  their  little  velvet  caps  much  like  that  of  common 
women  of  doubtful  reputation — men  that  encircle  their  necks 
with  stiff-starched  ruffs  of  linen  a  half-foot  in  length,  above 
which  their  heads  look  for  all  the  world  like  the  head  of  Saint 
John  the  Baptist  on  a  charger.'  As  for  Henry  himself,  lie 
does  not  show  himself  unworthy  of  his  chosen  associates. 
When  the  Protestants  came  to  complain  of  the  outrage  to  which 
their  brethren  in  the  faith,  returning  from  worship,  have  been 
subjected  at  the  very  gates  of  Paris,  they  find  the  king  riding 
on  horseback,  dressed  as  an  Amazon,  and  learn  that  he  is  every 


'  Lestoile,  i.  74. 


118 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.        Cu.  II 


day  planning  new  dances  and  banquets,  as  if  his  realm  were 
the  most  peaceful  kingdom  in  the  world.' 

A  portrait  of  Ilenry  sent  by  an  English  ambassador  to  his 
royal  mistress,  about  this  same  time,  has  been  preserved.  "  The 
king  is  of  good  stature,"  he  writes,  "  and  has  an  indifferently 
good  presence.    The  hair  of  his  head  is  black  and  something 

long,  but  turned  and  rolled  up,  as  I  think,  with  some 
HcCy rf'va-  hot  iron  like  a  very  roll  round  about  his  head,  and 

from  the  roll  to  the  crown  is  very  smooth.  His  cap 
was  black,  with  only  one  jewel,  and  so  little  that  it  covered  lit- 
tle more  than  the  crown  of  his  head,  and  all  the  rest  of  his 
garments  were  also  black."  It  may  be  remarked  that  the 
patriotic  Englishman  had  evidently  no  intention  to  paint  any 
member  of  the  French  court  in  too  glowing  colors.  "  There 
were  besides,"  he  gallantly  M'rote  the  virgin  queen,  "  other 
ladies,  j'oung  and  old,  fair  and  foul,  to  the  number  of  nine  or 
ten,  but  this  I  do  assure  your  majesty  of  my  faith  that  there  is 
more  beauty  in  your  majesty's  little  finger  than  there  is  in  any 
one  lady  that  there  was,  or  in  them  all." '' 

A  year  or  two  ago  it  was  the  Huguenot  soldiers  alone  who 
from  the  walls  of  defiant  Livron  taunted  Henry  with  his  par- 
ticipation in  the  massacre  of  Saint  Bartholomew's  Day.  Xow 
A  pasquinade  I^*^™^^  Catliolic  pcus  wcre  busy  deriding  the  un- 
iigainst  the     manly  king  and  his  childish  or  womanish  occupations. 

So  Pasquin  wrote  his  titles :  "  Henry,  by  the  grace  of 
his  mother  useless  King  of  France  and  of  Poland  imaginary. 
Doorkeeper  of  the  Louvre,  Warden  of  Saint  Germain  I'Auxer- 
rois,  Buffoon  of  the  Churches  of  Paris,  Son-in-law  of  Colas, 
Starcher  of  his  wife's  collars,  and  Curler  of  her  hair,  Haber- 
dasher of  the  Palace,  .  .  .  Superior  of  the  Four  Orders  of 
Mendicant  Friars,  Conscript  Father  of  the  White  Flagellants, 
and  Protector  of  the  Capuchins."  ° 


'  Lestoile,  i.  78. 

-  Sir  John  Smith  to  Queen  Elizabeth,  St.  Die,  December  16,  1576,  State 
Paper  Office. 

^  Journal  du  regne  de  Henry  III.  p.  19.  "Colas"  is,  of  course,  the  nick- 
name of  Henry's  father-in-law,  Nicholas  de  Vaudemout.  A  different  reading 
makes  Henry  "  incert  roi  de  France." 


1576. 


THE  STATES  GENERAL  OF  BLOIS. 


119 


Meanwhile  the  elections  were  in  progress  in  every  bailiwick 
and  senechaussee,  and  the  three  orders  were  busy  with  the 
Elections  for  Preparation  of  the  statement  of  their  particular  griev- 
the  states     anccs.    The  time  for  the  meeting  of  the  states  gen- 

general  of  o  o 

Biois.  eral  was  approaching,  but  long  before  it  arrived  the 
Huguenots  discovered  that  the  measure  about  which  they  had 
been  so  strenuous  was  likely  to  prove  an  occasion  of  oppression, 
if  not  of  ruin.  A  representative  body  formed  out  of  the  most 
intelligent  and  upright  men  of  the  nation  might  initiate  reforms 
of  inestimable  importance  to  the  French  people ;  but  what 
could  be  expected  from  the  delegates  of  such  constituencies  as 
most  of  the  districts  into  which  France  was  subdivided  ?  Had 
Conde  and  his  associates  mistaken  their  strength,  and  imagined 
that  the  Protestants  could  command  a  numerical  majority  in 
any  considerable  portion  of  the  country  ?  Be  this  as  it  may, 
they  soon  awoke  to  the  unpleasant  truth  that  their  enemies 
were  fully  resolved  to  make  good  use  of  the  opportunity. 
Often  in  the  local  elections  the  Huguenots  were  practically  ex- 
cluded from  a  participation  in  the  choice  of  deputies,  by  the  se- 
lection of  a  time  or  place  that  precluded  all  voters  but  such  as 
were  Roman  Catholics  from  making  their  appearance.  If  he 
presiimed  to  come  to  the  polls  held  in  the  parish  church,  and  in 
connection  with  the  service  of  the  mass,  the  Huguenot  gentle- 
man or  artisan  might  pay  dearly  for  his  temerity.'  Sometimes 
the  Protestant  candidate  if  elected  was  arbitrarily'  set  aside  sim- 
ply because  of  his  religion.'  In  most  cases,  however,  there  was 
no  need  either  of  intimidation  or  of  exclusion  ;  the  Roman 
Catholics,  as  at  Provins,  outnumbered  the  Protestant  gentry  in 
the  ratio  of  ten  to  one.  What  use  under  such  circumstances  of 
much  debate  ?  The  first  and  chief  article  in  the  documents 
drawn  up  to  be  sent  to  the  states  general  was,  of  course,  the 
article  of  religion.  On  this,  indeed,  there  was,  if  we  may  be- 
lieve Claude  Haton,  perfect  agreement  up  to  a  certain  point : 

'  Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  ii.  235.  "Les  convocations  particulieres  n'ont  este 
convoquees  qu'aux  Messes  et  paroisses  des  Catholiques,  et  partant  les  Reffor- 
mez  privez  de  leurs  voix  aux  elections,  lesquelles  leur  ont  este  a  haute  voix 
deffendues  contra  la  liberte." 

'  E.(j.,  in  the  territory  of  Vendome  and  at  Etampes.    Ibid. ,  ubi  supra. 


120 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE. 


Cn.  II. 


every  speaker  was  quite  willing  that  there  should  henceforth  be 
but  one  religion  tolerated  in  France — provided  only  that  the 
religion  tolerated  be  that  which  the  speaker  professed.'  In  the 
end  the  Romish  party  was  sure  to  cany  the  day  and  demand  the 
exclusion  of  every  religion  but  the  "  Catholic,  Apostolic,  and 
Ttoraan,"  and  the  Protestants,  at  best,  were  allowed  to  append 
to  the  official  document  an  article  favoring  the  toleration  of 
Protestantism,  to  which  they  subscribed  their  own  names.'' 

Early  in  December  the  states  general,  originally  summoned 
for  the  middle  of  the  preceding  month,  convened  in  the  ancient 
city  of  Blois.  It  was  notorious  that  the  Roman  Catholic  party 
had  secured  an  overwhelming  majority  of  the  deputies.  This 
information,  and  the  fact  of  which  it  was  a  clear  indication,  that 
the  large  concessions  to  the  Protestants  made  by  the 
in  the  royal  edict  of  paclficatiou  had  awakened  a  powerful  and 
policy.  i;nexpected  Roman  Catholic  reaction,  apparently  pro- 
duced a  radical  change  in  the  king's  plans.  Early  in  the  spring- 
Henry  had  declared  that  he  would  have  peace,  even  at  the  price 
of  half  his  kingdom.  In  midsummer  he  had  written  energetically 
to  denounce  the  formation  of  Roman  Catholic  associations  in 
Brittany  as  closely  akin  to  treason.  About  the  same  time  he 
had  insisted  that  the  Guises  should  pledge  themselves  by  oath 
to  the  maintenance  of  the  peace.  Isow  the  same  monarch  be- 
came an  advocate  of  the  proscription  of  the  Reformed  faith,  and 
was  ready  to  repeal  his  own  "  perpetual  and  irrevocable  edict," 
and  engage  in  a  course  of  action  that  could  end  only  in  open  war  ! 

This  rapid  and  complete  revolution  has  perplexed  many  stu- 
dents of  the  period  under  consideration  ;  it  ought  not,  however, 
Howtobeac  surpHsc  any  that  liavo  familiarized  themselves  with 
counted  for.  ^]jq  characters  of  the  king  and  his  mother.  The  at- 
tempt to  discover  a  well-defined  and  consistent  plan,  steadily 
pursued  by  Cathai'ine  de'  Medici  or  by  her  son  the  reigning 


■  "  Sur  lec^uel  poinct  chascun  s'accordoit,  pourveu  que  ce  fust  celle  que  chas- 
cun  teiioit."    Claiide  Haton,  ii.  865. 

-  Claude  Hatou,  ii.  8C2-6C,  gives  an  interesting  account  of  the  angry  disputes 
(whicli  came  near  having  a  bloody  termination)  at  the  meetings  of  the  noblesse 
of  tlie  western  part  of  Champagne  held  in  the  Gi'ay  Friars  at  Provins,  Sep- 
tember 17th  and  October  8th  and  9th. 


15TG. 


THE  STATES  GENERAL  OF  BLOIS. 


121 


prince,  will  always  prove  abortive.  Consistency  of  policy  was 
the  one  element  in  which  they  were  conspicnously  deficient. 
For  principle,  political  or  moral,  they  cared  nothing.  Whether 
they  had  any  real  religious  convictions  was  a  question  which 
contemporaries,  even  their  most  intimate  associates,  answered 
differently.  It  was  currently  reported  that  the  mother  was  an 
atheist ;  many  deemed  the  son,  despite  his  fantastic  devotions, 
to  be  little  better.  Both,  it  is  true,  had  a  desperate  hatred  of 
Protestantism  ;  not,  it  would  seem,  because  of  its  abstract  tenets, 
but  because  Protestantism  was  the  religion  of  free  and  untram- 
melled thought,  the  ally  of  liberty,  the  enemy  of  despotism. 
Because,  also,  Protestantism  was  the  adversary  of  the  papacy, 
which,  in  every  concordat  with  civil  powers,  knew  how  to  make 
its  material  support  valuable.  Both  Catharine  and  Henry  knew 
well  enough  that,  while  the  loyalty  of  the  Reformed  was  unim- 
peachable, their  system  of  doctrine  as  well  as  of  ecclesiastical 
government  comported  better  with  a  monarchy  under  which 
the  people  had  rights  that  were  recognized,  or  even  with  a  repub- 
lican system  like  that  of  the  cantons  of  Switzerland,  than  with 
an  absolute  and  tyrannical  regime.  They  knew  equally  well  that 
the  scheme  of  morality  professed  and  advocated  by  the  reformers 
was  a  severe  censure  upon  the  lax  manners  practised  by  the 
court  with  their  full  approval.  But  even  Protestantism,  al- 
though cordially  detested,  was  not  pursued  with  consistent  en- 
mity ;  for  Protestantism  might  on  occasion  become  serviceable. 
While,  however,  the  queen  and  her  son  had  no  w^ell-ordered 
political  or  moral  plan,  according  to  which  their  actions  were 
shaped,  there  was,  nevertheless,  one  point  that  was  never  lost 
sight  of.  Not  for  a  moment  did  they  forget  their  own  per- 
sonal advantage.  To  reach  this  haven  they  were  willing  to  tack 
as  often  as  the  wind  shifted,  with  little  regard  for  the  opinions 
of  the  world,  with  no  solicitude  for  truth  or  lionor.  The  pur- 
suit of  self-gratification,  uninterruptedly  and  relentlessly  main- 
tained, constituted  the  only  unity  of  their  lives,  and  this  fact 
explains  much  that  otherwise  would  prove  inexplicable.  If,  af- 
ter heading  for  a  while  in  the  direction  of  toleration,  Henry  the 
Third  was  seen  abruptly  to  veer  toward  proscription  and  inevi- 
table war,  the  secret  of  his  apparently  contradictory  manoeuvres 


122  THE  HUGUEXOTS  AND  HKN'RY  OF  XAVARRE.        Ch.  IL 


is  to  be  found  in  the  circumstance  that  in  both  cases  he  was  only 
beating  in  the  direction  of  a  self-indulgence  in  comparison  with 
which  both  toleration  and  proscription  were  in  reality  matters 
of  supreme  indifference  to  him. 

It  is  of  some  interest  and  importance,  however,  to  ascertain, 
if  possible,  any  event  that  determined  or  confirmed  the  king's 
sudden  change  of  attitude  to  the  Huguenots,  on  the  eve  of  the 
assembly  of  the  states  of  Blois.  One  such  event  was  perhaps 
found  in  the  publication  by  the  Protestants  of  a  very  startling 
document  revealing  alleged  designs  of  the  Guises  upon  the 
crown  of  France  itself.' 

One  Nicholas  David — so  the  story  ran — a  counsellor  in  the 
Parisian  Parliament,  but  a  man  of  as  little  reputation  for  abil- 
ity as  for  probity,  having  thrown  himself  into  the  party  of  the 
League  from  motives  of  revenge,  had  accompanied  the  Bishop 
of  Paris  in  his  recent  mission  to  Pome.  On  his  return,  David 
fell  sick  and  died  in  the  city  of  Lyons.  In  a  trunk,  opened 
after  his  death,  was  found  the  paper  which  the  Huguenots  took 
pains  to  publish  to  the  world,  under  the  title  of  "  Extract  of  a 
secret  council  held  at  Pome  shortly  after  the  arrival  of  the 
Bishop  of  Paris."  It  contained  a  summary  of  the  views  and 
purposes  of  the  Guisard  party. 

The  shameful  peace  lately  entered  into,  says  the  \vi-iter, 
demonstrates  that,  although  the  race  of  Hugh  Capet  has  suc- 
ceeded to  the  temporal  administration  of  the  king- 
of  Nicholas  dom  of  Charlemagne,  it  has  not  inherited  the  apos- 
tolic blessing  conferred  by  the  pope.  On  the  contrary, 
Capet's  rash  usurpation  of  the  crown  has  brought  upon  him 
and  all  his  descendants  a  perpetual  malediction,  rendering  him 
and  his  successors  disloyal  and  disobedient  to  the  Holy  Church. 
To  insure  the  ruin  of  that  church,  they  have  introduced  the 
damnable  error  which  the  French  style  the  "  Liberty  of  the 
Galilean  Church,"  which  is  nothing  else  than  the  refuge  of 


'  It  is  probable,  tbougb  not  certain,  that  the  memoire  of  David  reached  the 
king's  eyes  before  the  opening  of  the  states  general.  The  Protestant  preface 
to  the  translation  was  dated,  as  mentioned  below,  November  15,  and  since  the 
document  was  brief,  this  was  likely  also  to  be  the  date  of  publication.  If  so.  it 
is  quite  likely  that  a  copy  was  in  Henry's  hands  within  a  week  from  that  time. 


1576. 


THE  STATES  GENERAL  OP  BLOIS. 


123 


the  Waldenses,  the  Albigenses,  the  Poor  Men  of  Lyons,  the 
Lutherans,  and  at  present  the  Calvinists.  No  wonder  that 
the  victories  of  the  kings  who  for  the  hast  sixteen  jeai-s  have 
battled  in  defence  of  the  faith  have  been  fruitless.  There  will 
never  be  success  so  long  as  the  crown  remains  in  this  line. 

God  has  by  this  last  peace  prepared  the  way  for  the  restora- 
tion of  the  crown  to  the  true  successors  of  Charlemagne,  against 
whom,  inasmuch  as  they  were  despoiled  of  their  rights  by  force 
and  violence,  no  prescription  holds.  The  race  of  the  Capets  is 
clearly  seen  to  be  given  over  to  a  reprobate  mind.  Whereas 
some  of  its  kings  have  been  smitten  with  folly,  and  have  been 
men  stupid  and  of  no  account,  the  rest  have  been  rejected  of 
God  and  men,  because  of  their  heresy,  and  proscribed  and  cast 
forth  from  the  holy  communion  of  the  Church.  On  the  con- 
trary, the  scions  of  Charlemagne  are  green  and  flourishing,  lov- 
ing virtue,  full  of  vigor  in  body  and  intellect,  qualified  to  exe- 
cute high  and  praiseworthy  enterprises.  Wars  have  served 
to  exalt  them  in  station,  honor,  and  pre-eminence,  but  peace 
will  reinstate  them  in  their  ancient  inheritance,  the  kingdom, 
with  the  consent  and  by  the  choice  of  the  whole  people.  Un- 
questionably, therefore,  the  favorable  terms  accorded  to  the 
heretics  by  the  edict  of  pacification  must  be  viewed  as  proceed- 
ing from  God  and  not  from  men  ;  in  order  that  the  honor  of 
having  overthrown  heresy  may  remain  to  the  only  true  God 
and  to  the  benediction  of  His  holy  vicar. 

To  this  end  the  inhabitants  of  all  Catholic  towns  ought, 
through  salutary  preaching,  to  be  stirred  up  to  prevent,  by  force 
of  arms,  the  introduction  of  the  public  services  of  the  abomin- 
able sect  of  the  lluij;uenots.  Meantime  the  kinsr  should  be 
urged  to  give  himself  no  concern,  but  to  commit  all  authority 
to  the  Duke  of  Guise,  who  may  thus  become  the  sole  and  ab- 
solute head  of  the  leagues  formed  with  the  connivance  of  the 
king  himself.  By  Guise's  orders  the  parish  priests,  both  in 
town  and  in  country,  will  then  draw  up  a  complete  roll  of  all 
men  capable  of  bearing  arms,  and  will  issue  to  each  of  their 
male  parishioners,  at  the  confessional,  directions  respecting  the 
arms  with  which  they  are  to  provide  themselves,  for  service 
under  captains  to  be  assigned  by  Guise  himself. 


124 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.        Ch.  II. 


The  states  general  are  the  pit  into  wliich  the  heretics  will 
fall.  To  this  meeting  those  deputies  must  be  sent  who  are 
most  trusted  bj  his  holiness  because  of  the  oath  of  fidelit}'  they 
have  given  to  him  and  because  of  their  obligations  to  the  Catholic 
King.  The  queen  mother  will  induce  her  misguided  son  Anjou  to 
attend  the  states,  in  company  with  his  brother  the  reigning 
monarch  ;  and  the  King  of  Navarre  and  the  Prince  of  Conde 
are  to  be  enticed  to  the  same  place  and  threatened  with  being 
declared  rebels  in  case  they  do  not  come.  To  disarm  their 
suspicions,  Guise  will  for  the  time  absent  himself.  As  the 
time  shall  approach,  the  troops  of  the  parishes  must  be  reviewed 
and  kept  in  readiness  for  a  prompt  march  under  command  of 
their  chosen  captains. 

When  once  the  states  shall  have  met,  the  members,  from  the 
highest  to  the  lowest,  shall  bind  themselves  by  a  solemn  oath 
to  observe  everything  agreed  upon  by  the  body,  and  the  pope 
will  be  called  upon  to  give  to  its  conclusions  the  full  force  of  a 
Pragmatic  Sanction,  and  make  them  as  binding  as  the  Con- 
cordats between  the  Holy  See  and  the  French  kingdom.  Next, 
the  states  shall  declare  all  heretical  princes  of  the  blood  to  have 
forfeited  their  rights  to  the  succession,  and  shall  renew  their 
oath  of  fidelity  to  the  successor  of  Saint  Peter  and  to  the  Cath- 
olic faith,  as  laid  down  in  the  decrees  of  the  Council  of  Trent. 
The  edicts  of  toleration  shall  be  repealed,  and  the  edicts  order- 
ing the  extirpation  of  heresy  shall  be  restored  to  full  force, 
the  king  being  expressly  relieved  of  all  his  promises  made  to 
the  heretics.  In  order  to  overthrow  all  opposition  encountered 
in  the  prosecution  of  the  good  work  from  any  rebellious 
princes,  the  king  shall  be  petitioned  by  the  states  to  appoint,  as 
lieutenant-general,  a  competent  and  experienced  prince,  strong 
in  body  and  in  mind,  able  to  undergo  the  toil  and  to  take 
counsel  of  himself,  a  man  who  has  never  had  part,  communica- 
tion, or  alliance  with  heretics — in  other  words,  to  select  the 
Duke  of  Guise,  who  alone  possesses  all  the  qualities  required  in 
a  great  captain  worthy  of  such  a  trust. 

Having  thus  seized  the  power,  the  states  shall  set  forth  to  the 
king's  brother  the  enormity  of  liis  offence  in  abandoning  the 
king  and  joining  the  heretics,  in  declaring  himself  their  head, 


157G. 


THE  STATES  GENERAL  OF  BLOIS. 


125 


ill  raising  an  army,  and  finally  in  constraining  his  majesty  not 
only  to  give  liim  an  excessive  and  unreasonable  appanage,  but  also 
to  permit  and  authorize  the  practice  of  that  abominable  impiety 
of  heresy.  This  crime  being  the  highest  kind  of  treason, 
divine  and  human,  and  not  in  the  competence  of  the  king  to 
remit  and  pardon,  the  states  shall  demand  the  appointment  of 
judges  to  take  cognizance  thereof,  after  the  very  holy  and  pious 
example  of  the  Catholic  King  in  the  case  of  his  only  son  and 
of  himself.'  The  demand  shall  be  enforced  by  the  simultane- 
ous appearance  of  a  portion  of  the  parish  militia  and  other 
troops,  by  whom  the  arrest  of  the  Duke  of  Anjou  and  of  all  his 
associates  shall  be  effected.  At  the  same  time  the  remainder 
of  the  parish  troops  shall  take  the  field  and  attack  the  heretics, 
putting  them  to  the  sword  and  selling  their  goods  to  defray  the 
expenses  of  the  war.  The  Duke  of  Guise,  finding  himself  now 
at  the  head  of  a  powerful  army,  shall  enter  the  provinces  held 
by  the  rebels,  whom  he  will  easily  subdue,  laying  waste  the 
country,  and  slaying  all  thatroffer  resistance,  without  losing  his 
time  in  sieges  like  that  of  La  Rochelle. 

Having  gained  so  glorious  and  complete  a  victory,  and 
thereby  acquired  the  unbounded  affection  and  favor  of  all  the 
cities  of  the  kingdom  and  of  the  noblesse,  the  Duke  of  Guise 
will  provide  for  the  exemplary  punishment  of  the  king's 
brother  and  his  accomplices,  and  thereafter  conclude  the  whole 
matter,  with  the  consent  of  his  holiness,  by  imprisoning  the 
king  and  the  queen  in  a  monastery,  as  Pepin,  his  ancestor, 
did  Childeric.  Having  thus  reunited  the  temporal  heritage 
of  the  crown  to  the  apostolic  benediction  which  he  already 
possesses,  for  the  advantage  of  all  the  future  descendants  of 
Charlemagne,  he  will  cause  the  Holy  See  to  be  fully  recognized 
by  the  states  of  the  kingdom,  without  restriction  or  modifica- 
tion, by  abolishing  the  privileges  and  liberties  of  the  Galilean 
Church.  This  he  will  beforehand  pledge  himself  on  oath  to  do." 

'  "A  I'exemple  tressaint  et  pientissime  du  Roy  Catliolique  en  I'eudroit 
de  son  propre  fils  unique,  et  de  soy-mesme."  The  allusion  is,  of  course,  to 
Philip  II.  and  Don  Carlos. 

This  document  constitutes  the  first  of  the  long  series  of  important  contem- 
porary tracts  reproduced  in  the  invaluable  collection  gathered  and  saved  from 


126 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.        Ch.  IL 


I  have  not  hesitated  to  insert  this  important  document, 
somewhat  abridged,  but  essentially  in  the  words  of  the  original 
paper.  For  important  the  document  is,  whether  it  be  regarded 
as  genuine  or  fabricated.  The  view  given  of  the  designs  enter- 
was  the  pa-  Gained  by  the  Guises  and  their  adherents  may  not  be 
per  genuine?  authentic,  but,  iu  the  light  of  the  history  of  France 
during  the  next  thirteen  years,  it  must  be  accepted  as  a  truth- 
ful representation.  If  a  Huguenot  and  not  a  Guisard  hand 
was  employed  in  drawing  it  up,  the  Huguenot  writer  betraj's 
an  admirable  acquaintance  with  designs  whose  fulfilment  was 
delayed,  but  not  wholly  defeated,  by  premature  publicity. 
Under  such  circumstances,  it  is  not  eas}',  nor  is  it  altogether 
essential,  to  ascertain  the  authorship.  Yet  there  is  much  that 
seems  to  render  it  probable  that  the  storj'  of  its  discovery 
among  Nicholas  David's  effects  is  no  myth.  The  document 
first  saw  the  light  as  a  pamphlet,  provided  with  a  preface  written 
by  a  Protestant,  and  dated  at  Lyons,  on  the  fifteenth  of  'Ko- 
vember.  A  few  days  later  it  found  its  way  to  the  Louvre,  and 
was  read  by  Henry  with  more  incredulity  than  fear.  It  was 
believed  to  be  a  forgery,  and  this  opinion  the  historian  Davila 
adhered  to  many  years  after.'  All  authorities,  indeed,  agree 
that  the  king  took  alarm  only  when  similar  warnings  of  his 
peril  reached  him,  a  little  later,  from  the  French  ambassador  at 
Madrid.  But  the  fact  which  Davila  did  not  know — a  fact 
which  De  Thou  had  from  the  lips  of  M.  de  St.  Goard  himself 
— is  significant :  the  paper  sent  by  the  patriotic  ambassador 
which  produced  such  commotion  at  the  French  court  was  a  copy 
of  the  same  document  as  that  found  in  David's  trunk.  It  had 
been  forwarded  to  Spain  for  the  information  of  Philip  the 
Second.^ 

The  great  reaction  of  public  sentiment  in  condemnation  of 


oblivion  liy  Simon  Goulart,  and  published  under  the  title  of  Memoires  de  la 
Ligue  sous  Henri  III.  et  Henri  IV. ,  Rois  de  France.  The  preface  to  the  first 
of  the  six  octavo  volumes  is  dated  1587. 

'  Davila,  224,  225.    See  Recueil  des  choses  memorables,  581. 

-  De  Thou,  V.  341.  Mr.  Smedley,  History  of  the  Reformed  Religion  in 
France,  ii.  152,  has  already  insisted  on  this  circumstaijce  which  he  considers 
as  establishing  the  authenticity  of  the  memoire  of  David. 


1576. 


THE  STATES  GENERAL  OF  BLOIS. 


127 


the  edict  of  toleration,  the  wonderful  success  of  the  projectors  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  leagues,  the  disquieting  discovery  of  thegrow- 

Henry  deter- 

ing  popularity  of  the  Guises  as  champions  of  doctrinal 
^meh^d'of  orthodoxy  and  of  the  claims  of  the  church — all  con- 
the  League,  gpfred  to  determine  Hcnry's  course.  He  felt  himself 
too  weak  to  attempt  to  crush  the  ambitious  duke  and  his  allies  by 
a  direct  assault.  It  was  more  prudent,  and  more  congenial  to 
his  tastes,  to  disappoint  their  expectations  by  an  indirect,  but  not 
less  effectual  movement.  He  had  entered  upon  the  peace  because 
weary  of  war,  and  had  made  lavish  concessions  to  the  Hugue- 
nots whom  he  cordially  detested.  The  peace,  which  he  never 
intended  honorably  to  respect,  and  the  unwilling  concessions  his 
enemies  had  wrung  from  him,  having  bred  a  new  and  formidable 
party  in  the  League,  he  did  not  hesitate  to  renounce  the  one  and 
retract  the  other,  in  the  hope  of  undoing  the  mischief  he  had 
wrought.  He  determined  to  become  himself  the  head  of  the 
League,  to  constitute  himself  the  chief  whom  some  of  the  mani- 
festoes of  the  associations  obscurely  designated,  to  write  "  Henry 
of  Valois  "  in  the  space  purposely  left  blank  for  the  insertion, 
in  due  time,  of  the  name  of  "  Henry  of  Lorraine." 

On  Sunday  evening,  the  second  day  of  December,  that  ardent 
Roman  Catholic  nobleman,  Louis  de  Goiizagues,  Duke  of  Xevers, 
reached  Blois,  expecting  that  the  formal  opening  of  the  states 
general  would  take  place  on  the  morrow.    He  found  that  a 

"little  council,"  as  it  was  called,  had  that  day  been 

The  king's  ,  * 

"little  coun-  held  in  the  royal  apartments.  There  were  present, 
besides  the  king  and  the  queens,  his  wife  and  mother, 
the  Duke  of  Anjou,  Cardinal  Bourbon,  the  Duke  of  Montpensier, 
the  chancellor,  and  one  or  two  others.  The  object  was  to  con- 
sider "  what  steps  the  king  ought  to  take  to  secure  that  there 
should  be  but  one  religion  in  his  kingdom."  l^evers  informs 
us  that  the  council  was  held  expressly  on  that  day  in  order  that 
his  majesty  might  begin  the  holy  work  before  the  arrival  at 
court  of  the  delegates  of  any  province,  through  fear  lest  it  should 
be  said  that  they  had  incited  him  to  it.  The  result  of  the  de- 
liberations was  a  decision  that  when  the  orders,  each  in  its 
assembly,  should  proffer  a  request  for  the  exclusive  establish- 
ment of  a  single  religion,  the  king  should  signify  his  acceptance 


128  THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.        Ch.  II. 


of  the  petition."  It  would  seem  to  have  been  upon  this  same 
day — no  day  of  rest  for  Henry — that  he  sent  out  letters  to  the 
Henry  s  let-  ^'<^J^'  govemors  throughout  France,  enclosing  certain 
tersof Decern-  articles  respecting  the  associations  which,  said  he,  "I 
have  ordered  to  be  instituted  in  all  the  provinces  of 
my  realm."  The  governors  were  commanded  to  have  copies  of 
these  articles  promptly  made,  and  to  use  great  diligence  that 
these  copies  should  be  signed  and  forwarded  to  the  king,  together 
with  the  lists  of  members,  within  a  month  or  six  weeks  at  the 
farthest,  and  before  the  close  of  the  sessions  of  the  states.'  It 
was  clear  that  Henrv  had  Little  thought  of  maintaining  his 
tolerant  edict  for  the  benefit  of  the  Protestants. 

The  formal  opening  of  the  states  general  took  place  in  a  spa- 
cious hall  of  the  castle,  with  aU  the  pomp  craved  by  an  age  de- 
The  states  lighting  iu  startHug  pageants.  The  assemblage  itself 
o^ned.  De-  Outnumbered  former  gatherings  of  the  kind  ;  for  since 
cembcr  6th.  ^jjg  famous  States  of  Tours,  not  far  from  a  century 
before,  several  new  senechaussees  had  been  created,  each  en- 
titled to  representation  in  all  the  three  orders.  Henry  presided, 
seated  on  a  throne  of  violet  velvet  sprinkled  with  the  typical 
lilies  wrought  in  gold.  On  his  right  sat  Catharine  de'  Medici, 
now  a  portly  dame  of  fifty-seven  years,  considerably  changed 
from  the  proud  princess  who,  on  another  December  day,  sixteen 
years  ago,  brought  before  a  similar  convocation  at  Orleans  the 
boy-king  Charles,  in  whose  name  she  was  to  reign  supreme. 
Yet  the  Florentine  Grand  Duke's  daughter  was  still  in  the 
vigor  of  her  womanhood,  with  eye  keen  and  penetrating,  with 
unbroken  resolution,  with  brow  betraying  no  indications  of 
regret  or  remorse  for  the  misdeeds  of  the  past.  Beyond  her, 
in  another  arm-chair,  was  puny  Alen9on,  the  mis-called  Her- 
cules, scarred  not  in  war,  but  by  disease,  to  whose  insignificance 
no  change  of  name  to  Anjou,  no  extravagant  appanage  could 
lend  dignity,  the  impersonation  of  Medicean  treachery  without 


'  "Journal  de  M.  le  due  de  Xevers,  pendant  les  Estats  tenus  a  Blois,  es 
annees  1576  et  1577."    Memoires  de  Nevers,  i.  166. 

-  Text  of  the  letter,  dated  Blois,  December  2,  1576,  in  Memoires  de  Claude 
Haton,  ii.  Appendix.  11.54. 


i5r(i. 


THE  STATES  GENERAL  OP  BLOIS. 


129 


the  shrewdness  that  had  made  the  fortune  of  the  great  mer- 
chant house  of  Tuscany.  Louise,  the  younger  queen,  occupied  a 
place  upon  her  husband's  left.  On  either  side  of  the  hall  the 
secular  and  ecclesiastical  peers  were  arranged  in  order  of  dig- 
nity, while  immediately  in  front  of  the  monarch,  sat  the  chan- 
cellor, the  highest  judicial  officer  of  the  crown.' 

Henry  opened  the  session  by  courteously  raising  his  cap  from 
his  head  and  bowing  to  the  assembled  deputies,  and  then  pro- 
ceeded to  address  them  with  a  grace  peculiarly  his  own."  The 
Henry's  speccli  was  a  uiodel  of  temperateness  and  conciliation, 
speech.  jjg  dcplorcd  tlie  ruinous  change  that  had  come  over 
a  kingdom  once  the  most  flourishing  in  Christendom,  and  de- 
clared himself  and  his  late  brother  absolved  of  all  responsibil- 
ity for  disasters  occurring  during  their  childhood.  He  praised 
the  queen  his  mother  for  the  incredible  toils  and  labors  she  had 
imdergone  to  prevent  those  disasters,  and  asserted  that  to  her, 
after  God,  was  due  the  preservation  of  the  realm.  "  All  true 
lovers  of  France,"  said  he,  "  are  bound  to  give  her  immoi'tal 
praise  for  the  vigilant  care,  the  magnanimity  and  prudence  with 
which  she  held  the  helm,  and  piloted  this  kingdom  through  the 
boisterous  waves  and  tierce  winds  of  faction  and  division  that 
assailed  it  on  all  sides."  Coming  next  to  speak  of  himself, 
Henry  dwelt  much  upon  the  pacific  intentions  of  his  accession, 
and  the  intense  sorrow  it  had  caused  him  to  see  the  misery  en- 
tailed upon  his  subjects  by  war.  "  Often,"  he  piously  exclaimed, 
"  have  I  been  moved  to  pray  to  God  that  He  would  be  pleased  in 
His  mercy  to  deliver  my  people  speedily  from  their  misfortunes, 
or,  in  this  the  flower  of  my  age,  to  put  an  end  to  my  reign  and 
to  my  life,  that  I  might  close  both  with  the  reputation  becom- 
ing a  prince  descended  from  a  long  line  of  magnanimous  kings. 
Much  rather  this,  than  that  I  should  be  suffered  by  heaven  to 
grow  old,  a  witness  of  calamities  which  I  could  not  remedy,  or 


'  Boullee,  Histoire  complete  des  Etats-Generaux  et  autres  assemblces  repre- 
sentatives de  France,  i.  279,  etc. 

^  "  En  la  premiere  seance  d'iceiix,  le  Roy  apres  avoir  leve  le  bonnet  et  salue 
I'assemblee,  commen(;a  avec  une  grace  et  action  bien  seante  sa  harangue  sur 
la  commiseration  des  afflictions  de  son  royaume.''  Recueil  des  choses  memor- 
ables,  584. 

Vol.  I.— 9 


130 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRR       Ch.  IL 


that  the  memory  of  my  rule  should  be  handed  down  to  pos- 
terity as  the  example  of  an  unfortunate  reign."  Recognizing 
a  good  peace  to  be  the  sole  cure  for  prevailing  evils,  he  conjured 
his  hearers,  by  their  love  and  fealty,  to  assist  him  in  removing 
even  the  very  roots  of  discord,  and  assured  them  that  he  knew 
both  the  reasons  for  which  he  had  been  placed  in  so  exalted  a 
position,  and  the  solemn  account  he  must  one  day  render  for 
his  conduct  at  the  divine  tribunal.  "  I  have  no  other  object  in 
view  but  the  welfare  of  my  subjects,"  said  Henry.  "  For  this 
I  shall  labor  night  and  day.  To  accomplish  this  I  will  use  all 
my  intelligence,  care,  and  toil,  not  sparing  even  my  blood  and 
my  life,  if  need  be.  Moreover,  be  assured  that  I  promise  you, 
on  the  word  of  a  king,  that  I  shall  cause  to  be  kept  and  ob- 
served inviolably  all  the  regulations  and  ordinances  that  may 
be  made  by  me  in  this  assembly,  and  that  I  shall  neither  give 
any  dispensation  to  the  contrary,  nor  permit  those  regulations 
and  ordinances  to  be  in  any  wise  infringed."  ' 

Of  the  speech  of  the  chancellor,  whom,  according  to  custom, 
the  king  requested  more  fully  to  explain  his  intentions,  little 
need  be  said.  The  speaker  was  not  the  grave  Michel  de 

Chancellor      t  ,  tt        •    t     i  i      •      •  i  i 

Birague'6  ad-  l  llospital,  tlio  Stately  jurist  whose  calm  and  persua- 
sive voice  had  so  often  been  raised  to  still  the  discord- 
ant waves  of  passion,  the  ardent  patriot  in  whose  breast  even 
the  greatest  reverses  and  old  age  itself  never  quenched  the 
spark  of  hope  nor  caused  him  to  despair  of  the  republic.  L'Hos- 
pital  had  been  dead  these  three  years  and  more.  In  his  place 
sat  Rene  de  Birague,  one  of  the  brood  of  Italians  that  had  come 
in  to  hasten  the  destruction  of  France,  a  foreigner  of  whom  no 
friend  ever  had  the  effrontery  to  assert  that  he,  like  his  immor- 
tal predecessor,  "  had  the  lilies  of  France  graven  upon  his 
heart."  One  half  of  those  present  could  not  hear  the  harangue 
which  he  uttered  with  cracked  voice ;  the  other  half  were  an- 
noyed at  his  indiscriminate  and  blundering  censures,  or  dis- 
gusted that  a  chancellor  of  France  should  be  obliged  to  apologize 


'  Text  of  Henry's  speech  in  Memoires  de  Nevers,  and  Agrippa  d'Aubigne, 
ii.  243-5  ;  i.  440-3.  Summaries  in  Recueil  des  clioses  memorables,  584  ;  De 
Thou,  V.  334,  335 ;  etc. 


1576. 


THE  STATES  GENERAL  OF  BLOIS. 


131 


to  the  representatives  of  the  nation  for  a  want  of  familiarity 
witli  the  duties  of  his  office.' 

Henry  had  won  golden  opinions,  in  contrast  with  his  chan- 
cellor. However,  it  is  always  unsafe  to  accord  much  praise  to 
royal  eloquence.  In  the  present  case  it  was  well  understood 
that  the  fine  phrases  and  highly  edifying  and  patriotic  senti- 
ments, of  which  Henry  was  the  mouthpiece,  had  been  supplied 
to  him  by  the  facile  pen  of  Jean  de  Morvilliers,  Bishop  of  Or- 
leans." This  circumstance  may  help  to  account  for  the  tone  of 
exalted  self-devotion  of  an  address  to  the  composition  of  which 
Henry,  in  the  midst  of  his  "  mignons"  and  dogs,  might  have 
found  it  an  irksome  task  to  apply  himself.  It  may  also  explain 
the  incongruity  between  Henry's  ardent  expressions  of  a  desire 
for  a  good  and  stable  peace,  and  his  letter,  but  four  days  old, 
ordering  associations  to  be  formed  in  all  the  provinces,  the 
only  result  of  which  must  be  the  overthrow  of  the  edict  of  May, 
and  a  new  resort  to  arms. 

If  the  king  had  counted  upon  the  plausible  words  of  his  har- 
angue to  obliterate  the  memory  of  two  years  of  financial  and 
Bold  demands  political  misrulo,  and  to  inspire  his  subjects  with  con- 
of  the  states,  gjjgjjgg  either  in  his  integrity,  or  in  his  patriotism 
and  prudence,  he  had  certainly  made  a  gross  miscalculation. 
He  had  ostentatiously  promised,  on  his  kingly  word,  to  main- 
tain inviolate,  and  to  cause  to  be  respected,  whatever  ordinances 
might  be  made  by  himself  in  the  present  assembly ;  the  depu- 
ties, with  a  dawning  consciousness  of  the  rights  of  the  people 
as  superior  to  the  king,  went  a  step  farther.  One  of  their  very 
first  conclusions  was  to  request  his  majesty  to  appoint  a  certain 
number  of  judges,  to  whom  the  states  would  add  delegates 


'  "Ce  qui  etoit  honteux  dans  un  premier  magistral  comme  lui."  De  Thou, 
V.  336.  M.  de  Blanchefort,  a  deputy  for  the  nobles  of  Nivernois,  says:  "  Par- 
lant  de  la  Noblesse,  il  ne  contenta  pas  tout  le  monde  ;  puis  blasmant  les  me- 
chans  qui  contreviennent  aux  ordonnances,  il  n'en  fit  aucune  distinction  .  .  . 
De  ma  part  je  n'ouys  pleinement  ce  discours  pour  en  bien  juger,  attendu  que 
M.  le  chancellier  estoit  aucunement  loin,  et  parce  qu'il  a  la  voix  fort  cassee." 
Memoires  de  Nevers,  i.  443,  444. 

^  Lestoile,  i.  80  ;  Memoires  de  Nevers,  ubi  supra.  De  Thou  (v.  334),  is  our 
authority  for  the  last  statement. 


132 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.        Cii.  II. 


from  each  province  of  the  kingdom.  The  joint  commission 
thus  constituted  was  to  he  invested  with  absohite  power  to  pass 
upon  all  general  or  particular  propositions  made  by  the  three 
orders ;  its  decisions  were  to  he  executed  as  laws  of  the  realm.' 
The  king's  astonishment  at  this  suggestion,  offered  to  him  by 
the  delegates  with  the  tiers  etat  at  their  head,  had  not  sub- 
sided, when  the  Archbishop  of  Lyons,  Pierre  d'Espinac,  pre- 
siding officer  of  the  clergy,  presented  to  the  assembly  an  un- 
signed paper,  found  hy  him,  he  said,  under  the  table  at  which 
he  was  seated.  This  turned  out  to  be  a  petition  to  the  king, 
requesting  him  to  pledge  himself  to  cause  whatever  resolutions 
might  be  unanimoush'  adopted  by  the  three  orders  to  be  forth- 
with recognized  as  of  legal  force,  and  binding  himself,  where 
the  orders  disagreed,  to  make  no  decision  without  the  advice 
and  consent  of  the  queen  mother,  the  princes  of  the  blood,  the 
peers  of  the  realm,  and  twelve  deputies  of  the  states.  It  must 
be  admitted  that  Ilenry  answered  with  more  calmness  and  dis- 
cretion than  might  have  been  expected  from  him,  a  proposal 
that  would,  by  a  single  dash  of  the  pen,  have  changed  the  con- 
stitution of  the  kingdom,  and  effectually  tied  the  hands  of  a 
monarch  who  claimed  to  be  absolute  in  the  exercise  of  his  au- 
thority. However  interesting  and  important  in  the  civil  history 
of  France,  these  and  other  questions  of  constitutional  law  that 
came  up  in  the  States  of  Blois,  must  be  dismissed,  as  irrelevant 
to  the  special  subject  of  the  present  work.  Yet  this  must  be 
noticed  in  passing :  the  spirit  of  inquiry  showed  signs  of  hav- 
ing passed  from  the  domain  of  religion  into  that  of  government. 
For  half  a  century  men  had  been  questioning  the  authority  of 
the  established  church,  and  requiring  its  advocates  to  substan- 
tiate its  claims  by  an  appeal  to  the  Word  of  God  as  the  ulti- 


'  De  Thou,  V.  336.  It  is  worthy  of  notice  that,  after  all,  the  tiers  etat,  in 
this  as  in  other  respects,  ^owed  itself  more  moderate  than  the  other  orders ; 
for  it  urged,  until  overborne  by  them,  that  the  thirty-six  commissioners  that 
were  to  act  with  the  royal  council  should  have  only  a  consultative  voice.  It 
also  demanded  that,  in  all  cases  affecting  a  single  order,  the  twelve  commis- 
sioners of  that  order  should  possess  a  single  vote  with  weight  equal  to  the  vote 
of  the  commissioners  of  the  other  two  orders  put  together.  See  BouUee,  i. 
286,  287. 


1576. 


THE  STATES  GENERAL  OP  BLOIS. 


133 


mate  and  only  proper  criterion.  Within  the  last  few  years 
daring  tliinkers  had  turned  their  attention  to  the  foundations 
of  civil  government,  and  had  begun  to  demand  the  reasons  for 
the  anomalies  of  its  present  constitution.  The  investigation  au- 
gured trouble  in  future  for  the  despotic  possessors  of  thrones, 
inasmuch  as  those  who  pursued  it  were  no  longer  exclusively 
adherents  of  the  reformatory  school  in  theology.  If  Francois 
Ilotman,  author  of  the  treatise  "  Franco-Gallia,"  '  was  a  Hugue- 
not, the  famous  Jean  Bodin,  the  most  learned  expounder  of  the 
spirit  of  the  French  monarchy  in  the  States  of  Elois,  the  writer 
whose  great  work  on  the  "  Republic "  was  soon  to  be  the 
subject  of  the  praise  of  all  men,  was  undoubtedly  a  Roman 
Catholic.'' 

Meantime  Henry  did  not  suifer  his  new  zeal  to  grow  cold. 
If  any  credit  were  to  be  gained  by  the  advocacy  of  a  proscript- 
Henry'sac-  poHcy,  he  was  resolved  not  to  lose  the  opportunity 
to  acquire  it.  His  very  rivals  in  public  esteem  took 
alarm  lest  he  should  rob  them  of  their  sole  chance  of  making  a 
strong  party  in  the  state ;  and  Guise,  who  had  purposely  re- 
mained away,  hastened  to  Blois  to  look  after  his  interests.  The 
king  would  not  suffer  the  states,  strongly  imbued  as  they  were 
with  the  sentiments  of  the  League,  to  express  themselves  as 
they  had  purposed  doing.  Discovering  that  the  Baron  de  Sen- 
necey,'  whom  the  nobles  had  chosen  to  be  the  spokesman  for 
their  order,  had  omitted  from  the  draft  of  his  formal  address 
to  the  crown  any  demand  for  the  sole  establishment  of  th.e 
Roman  Catholic  religion,  Henry  was  very  indignant  at  this 
exhibition  of  a  natural  fear  lest  war  should  inevitably  be  re- 
newed. The  nobleman  must  be  gained  over  by  friendship  or 
by  fear.    In  the  end,  the  form  of  words  he  was  to  use,  when 


'  See  the  Rise  of  the  Huguenots,  ii.  615. 

'  Von  Polenz  arrives  at  this  coiichision  after  a  long  and  exhaustive  examina- 
tion. Geschichte  des  franzosischen  Calvinismus,  iii.  3G4-372.  Bodin's  own 
command,  in  his  will,  that  his  body  should  be  buried  in  the  church  of  the 
Cordeliers  at  Laon,  is  a  very  clear  indication  that  the  great  jurist  was  no  Prot- 
estant. With  good  reason  does  Bayle,  in  his  extended  article  on  Bodin,  style 
him  "  one  of  the  most  learned  men  in  France  in  the  sixteenth  century." 

"  Otherwise  written  SenecC  and  Sennes<;ay. 


134  THE  HUGUENOTS  AXD  HEXRY  OF  XAYAERE.        Cn.  IL 


touching  on  the  knotty  question  of  reUgious  toleration,  was 
drawn  up  by  Catharine  de'  Medici  herself,  and  submitted  for 
final  correction  to  Henry  himself,  before  Sennecey  was  permit- 
ted to  speak.'  At  about  the  same  time  the  king  was  writing  to 
distant  provinces,  approving  the  articles  of  associations  sub- 
mitted to  him,  and  granting  to  the  confederates  the  dangerous 
authority  to  levy  money  to  carry  them  into  execution.'' 

There  are  extremes  of  vacillation  that  to  men  of  ordinary  stead- 
fastness of  purpose  appear  nearly  if  not  quite  incredible.  Can 
The  kings  beliovcd  that,  by  the  time  the  fourth  week  of 

vaciuation.  asscmbly  of  the  states  was  well  begun,  Henry 

was  in  the  greatest  perplexity  as  to  what  course  it  was  best  for 
him  to  pursue  ?  Yet  such,  we  are  assured,  on  what  appears  to 
be  unimpeachable  authority,  was  the  case.  The  tliree  orders 
were  ready  for  the  declaration  of  the  one  religion ; it  was 
now  the  king  who  showed  painful  hesitation  and  real  fear  of 
the  renewal  of  hostilities.  He  seems  inclined  now  to  one 
side  and  now  to  the  other,"  wrote  the  Florentine  envoy  in  his 
confidential  despatches  to  his  master,  even  so  late  as  the  twenty-, 
eighth  day  of  December.^  Yet  three  more  days  passed,  and 
the  same  pen  could  write  an  account  of  very  positive  declara- 
tions on  the  part  of  Henry  and  his  mother.  The  king  had  at 
last  published  in  an  open  council  his  will  to  tolerate  none  but 
the  Catholic  religion  in  his  dominions,  asserting  that  he  had 
Declaration  of  ^^I'^'^js  bceu  dcvotcdly  attached  to  the  faith,  but  had 
Sother— hithcrto  been  prevented  by  certain  good  i-easons  from 
cember  29th.  testifying  liis  affectiou.  Xow,  however,  in  view  of 
the  good  intentions  of  his  subjects,  whose  deeds,  he  promised 
himself,  would  be  conformable  to  their  professions,  he  was 
fully  resolved,  with  the  forces  God  had  given  him,  to  defend 
the  true  Christian  League.  Catharine  de'  Medici  followed  with 


'  The  Duke  of  Nevers  vonclies  for  this  singular  circumstance  in  his  diarj , 
under  the  dates  of  December  12  and  14,  1576.    Memoires,  i.  167. 

'  See  the  Articles  of  the  League  of  Champagne  and  Brie,  with  Henry's  in- 
dorsement, dated  Blois,  December  11,  1576.    Ibid.,  i.  117. 

'  "Ed  era  si  mostra  inclinato  da  una  banda  e  era  dall'  altra."  Saracini  to 
the  Grand  Duke,  Blois,  December  28,  1576,  2scgociations  avee  la  Toscane, 
iv.  96. 


1577. 


THE  STATES  GENERAL  OP  BLOIS. 


135 


similar  utterances  and  still  stronger  excuses  for  past  action  or 
inaction,  based  upon  the  minority  and  the  disunion  of  her  sons. 
Seeing  that  these  impediments  had  been  removed,  she  would 
show  herself  most  constant  and  obstinate  in  defending  the 
Catholic  religion,  and  in  permitting  no  exercise  whatever  of  the 
Huguenot  worship.'  The  words  had  been  received  with  such 
great  delight  that  a  league  was  formed  which  had  already 
secured  the  subscriptions  of  the  delegates  of  five  provinces. 
Xay,  the  campaign  against  the  heretics  was  at  once  mapped 
out — the  Duke  of  Anjou  to  command  the  vanguard,  Henry  in 
person  the  "  battle,"  or  main  body,  Guise,  Mayenne,  Severs  and 
others,  the  rear.  An  irresistible  force  of  ten  thousand  horse 
and  thii-ty  thousand  foot  would  pour  into  Poitou,  and  carry 
discomfiture  into  the  haunts  of  the  Huguenots.^ 

It  may  have  occurred  to  some  who  heard,  as  it  occurs  to 
those  who  now  read,  the  story  of  these  proceedings,  that  the 
word  of  a  king  who  coidd,  without  a  blush,  explain  to  his 
hearers  that  he  had  made  his  edict  of  pacification  solely  that 
he  might  have  his  brother  again,  and  drive  the  reiters  and  other 
foreigners  from  his  kingdom,"  and  fell  back  upon  the  superior 
and  binding  force  of  his  coronation  oath  to  excuse  all  sub- 
sequent perjury,  was  not  likely  to  be  of  much  account.  It 
really  added  little  weight  to  his  statement  that  he  asseverated 
that  "  this  was  his  final  resolution,"  and  that  "  he  wished  no 
advice  on  the  subject,"  and  with  hypocritical  cant  expressed 
himself  as  "  hoping  that  God  would  grant  him  help."  ' 

Even  now,  however,  the  utter  faithlessness  of  Henry,  worthy 
son  of  his  Italian  mother,  was  fully  understood  by  few,  if  by 
any,  of  those  who  thought  they  knew  him  best.  If  his  royal 
council  did  not  believe  implicitly  his  extravagant  assurances 
of  piety,  the  majority  of  its  members  certainly  had  little  sus- 
picion that  his  policy  was  at  present  aimed  solely  at  establish- 


'  Saracini  to  the  Grand  Duke,  December  31,  1576,  ibid.,  iv.  98.  See,  also, 
Journal  de  Nevers,  under  date  of  December  29,  apud  Memoires,  1.  1G8,  169 ; 
and  Lestoile,  i.  80,  81. 

'  Saracini,  ubi  supra,  iv.  99. 

'  "  Que  c'estoit  sa  derniere  resolution  ;  qu'il  ne  vouloit  sur  ce  aucun  advis; 
qu'il  esperoit  que  Dieu  I'aideroit.''    Memoires  de  Nevers,  ubi  supra. 


130 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AXD  HEXRY  OF  NAVARRE. 


Cn.  IL 


ing  the  royal  authority  at  the  expense  both  of  the  League  and 
the  Huguenots,  and  that  possibly  lie  loved  the  Roman  Catholic 
association  about  as  little  as  he  did  the  "  heretics  "  themselves. 

The  king,  after  declaring  his  purpose  to  tolerate  no  second 
religion  in  the  realm,  requested  each  member  of  his  council  to 
Henry  asks  S^^'^  ^^^i^  ^  Written  opiuion  concerning  the  best  method 
opiniras"o£  carrying  this  purpose  into  effect,  either  by  peace- 
hiscouncu.  able  means  or,  if  the  worst  should  come  to  pass,  by 
war.  The  answers  have  come  down  to  us.'  "Whoever  will  sum- 
mon the  patience  to  plod  through  this  mass  of  neglected  doc- 
uments, not  deterred  by  the  inelegance  and  barrenness  of  style 
constituting  their  most  striking  characteristic,  will  find  himself 
in  the  end  amply  rewarded  for  his  pains.  In  only  one  point  do 
all  the  opinions  agree  :  violent  Leaguer  and  friend  of  more 
pacific  devices  unite  in  desiring  that  the  end  may  be  compassed 
without  a  resort  to  arms,  and  suggest  the  propriety  of  first  en- 
deavoring to  gain  over  Xavarre,  Conde,  and  Damville.  If  there 
be  any  difference,  the  conversion  of  the  ]Montmorency  to  loyalty 
is  regai'ded  as  the  most  important.  In  other  respects  the  views 
of  the  writers,  and  their  treatment  of  the  question,  differ  widely. 

Louis,  Cardinal  of  Guise,  last  survivor  of  Duke  Claude's  six 
sons,  abettor  of  the  massacre  of  Yassy  and  author  of  the  massa- 
cre of  Sens — amiable  prelate  whose  convivial  habits  had  earned 
him  the  distinctive  cognomen  of  "  le  cardinal  des  bouteilles  "  ^ — 
illustrated  his  reputation  for  dense  ignorance  respecting  matters 
of  church  and  state  by  making  provision  for  the  possibility  of 
any  Protestants  desiring,  "  through  a  divine  inspiration,"  to 
join  the  "  Holy  League."  '    Such  persons  ought  to  be  welcomed 


'  They  occupy  one  hundred  and  ten  folio  pages  of  the  Memoires  de  Nevers 
(i.  179-288),  under  the  heading,  "  Advis  donnez  au  roy,  par  escrit,  par  son 
commandement,  par  la  reine  sa  mere,  les  princes  et  autres  seigneurs  et  les 
principaux  de  son  consei'l,  s'il  estoit  expedient  pour  le  bien  de  son  estat,  de 
faire  la  guerre  a.  ceux  de  la  religion  pretendue  reformee,  ou  de  traitter  avec 
eux.  Au  mois  de  Janvier,  1577. ''  The  date  of  the  answers  that  bear  any 
particular  date  is  January  2. 

-  See  the  Rise  of  the  Huguenots,  ii.  13,  46,  170. 

"  "Que  si  quelques  uns  de  la  nouvelle  opinion,  par  une  inspiration  divine, 
se  veulent  liguer,  s'unir  et  associer  a  la  sainte  ligue,  les  associez  les  y  rece- 
vront,"  etc.    Memoires  de  Nevers,  i.  246. 


1577. 


THE  STATES  GENERAL  OP  BLOIS. 


137 


to  every  privilege  of  the  association — that  of  contributing  to 
its  funds  not  being  forgotten — on  condition,  of  course,  that  they 
indulge  in  no  act  of  their  religious  worship,  public  or  private. 
Seeing  that  the  Holy  League  was  pretty  well  understood  to 
have  been  founded  expressly  for  the  destruction  of  Protestant- 
ism, we  must  confess  that  the  cardinal  gave  himself  unnecessary 
trouble  in  providing  for  an  improbable  contingency. 

In  the  midst  of  the  lavish  praise  accorded  to  the  king's  most 
laudable  plan  of  exterminating  Protestantism,  or  at  least  that 
external  practice  of  its  rites  without  which  Protestantism  could 
not  subsist,  one  or  two  things  claim  attention.  Morvilliers  and 
Bellievre,  two  of  the  king's  most  experienced  counsellors,  did  not 
hide  their  candid  belief  in  the  quixotic  character  of 

Candor  of  .  i  •        •        i         r  t      i  i  i 

Morvilliers     au  enterprise  whose  lustice  they  felt  tliemseives,  under 

and  Bellievre.  .  iiir  i-  •  nr 

the  Circumstances,  precluded  trom  discussing.  JMor- 
villiers  dwelt  much  upon  the  proverbial  fickleness  of  the  Fi-ench, 
ever  ready  to  undertake,  but  disinclined  to  persevere  in  difficult 
labors.  And  coming  to  the  money  indispensably  necessary  for  a 
fresh  war,  he  exclaimed  :  "  As  to  the  means  of  providing  it,  I 
swear  in  good  faith  that  I  do  not  know  them,  although  for  ten 
years  I  have  concerned  myself  with  such  thoughts,  and  perhaps 
as  much  as  any  man  of  my  profession.  I  see  the  affairs  in  this 
kingdom  in  such  confusion,  the  whole  people  so  impoverished, 
that  I  know  not  what  we  can  promise  ourselves.  Meantime,  your 
majesty  can  expect  help  only  from  your  subjects.  You  can 
hope  for  nothing  from  friends,  from  credit,  or  from  the  mer- 
chants." '  Bellievre  was  even  more  outspoken  in  his  disapproba- 
tion of  the  mad  venture  upon  which  Henry  seemed  to  be  driven. 
"  Sire,"  said  he,  "  when  I  consider  the  resoluteness  of  your 
subjects,  who,  after  having  been  beaten  consecutively  in  two 
great  battles,  like  those  of  Jarnac  and  Moncontour,  and  having 
lost  the  greater  number  of  their  military  men,  with  their  leader 
himself,  a  prince  of  your  blood,  and  the  bravest  combatants 
ever  in  their  ranks,  nevertheless  refused  after  such  great  pun- 
ishment to  abandon  their  obstinacy — when  I  consider,  too,  that 
it  was  not  in  the  power  of  the  late  king,  your  brother,  to  make 


Memoires  de  Nevers,  i.  2G5. 


138 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.        Ch.  IL 


them  consent  to  peace,  save  by  granting  them  the  exercise  of  their 
religion,  I  tremble  so  often  as  I  think  of  the  resolution  adopt- 
ed bv  TOiir  majesty  to  interdict  that  exercise.  Yonr  majesty 
knows  that  they  showed  a  like  stubbornness  after  the  siege  of 
La  Rochelle,  and  that  having  scarcely  any  forces  or  places  left 
them  in  the  kingdom,  they  have  not  failed  to  continue  in  the 
same  pertinacity  until  the  present  hour.  Taking  all  this  into 
view,  Sire,  I  cannot  easily  persuade  myself  that  they  will  change 
opinion,  for  all  yoi;r  declarations,  nor  that  words,  or  even  arms, 
will  be  potent  enough  to  heal  a  disease  so  inveterate  as  that  which 
has  possession  of  their  minds."  If  the  war  must  come,  how- 
ever, Bellievre  was  clear  that  its  authors  must  be  its  supporters. 
"  It  seems,"  said  he,  "  that  these  gentlemen  of  the  states  general 
who  gave  you  the  advice,  and,  as  it  were,  compelled  your  majesty 
by  their  ver}^  pressing  requests  to  break  this  last  edict  of  paci- 
fication, are  bound  to  guarantee  in  their  o^vn  names  the  issue  of 
it,  and  to  furnish  you  with  everything  necessary  for  the  success- 
ful prosecution  of  the  war."  ' 

The  Duke  of  Anjou,  now  to  all  appearances  fully  reconciled 
to  his  brother,  was  persuaded  to  write  a  reply  to  Henry's  request 
for  counsel  which  not  only  breathed  as  much  hostility 

The     Duke  *^ 

of  Anjou  en-   to  the  HuOTcnots  as  did  any  of  the  other  papers,  but 

trapped.  r  ^ 

indulged  in  open  contempt  or  the  resources  at  their 
command.  He  advised  Henry  to  remonstrate  courteously  with 
Kavarre  on  his  folly  in  undertaking  to  cope  with  a  monarch 
that  had  a  hundred  times  as  much  money  at  command  and 
more  than  a  hundred  times  the  number  of  troops  to  draw  upon, 
lie  advised  that  Damville  be  plied  with  arguments  based  upon 
loyalty  and  religion.  "  As  to  the  Prince  of  Conde,"  said  he, 
"  inasmuch  as  he  has  less  means  than  the  King  of  Xavarre,  and 
is  more  obstinate,  it  seems  to  me  that  you  ought  to  speak  more 
roughly  and  make  him  feel  the  rod  with  which  he  will  be 
beaten  should  he  be  so  unfortunate  as  to  oppose  your  will  in 
anything."  '    Dull-witted  Anjou  did  not  awake,  untU  it  was  too 


'  Memoires  de  Xevers,  i.  285,  287. 

-  Ibid.,  i.  235.  "  Luy  faire  sentir  les  verges  dont  il  seroit  fouette,  s'il  estoit 
si  miserable  de  contrarier  en  quelque  chose  a  vos  volontez.'' 


1577. 


THE  STATES  GENERAL  OF  BLOIS. 


139 


late,  to  a  realization  of  the  mortifying  truth  that  his  treacher- 
ous brother  had  had  no  other  view  in  urging  him  to  an  expres- 
sion of  sentiments  similar  to  his  own  for  the  time  being,  than 
to  destroy  any  lingering  confidence  which  the  Huguenots  might 
still  have  in  the  puny  prince.    Nor  had  Henry  miscalculated.' 

Two  members  of  the  council  proved  themselves  shrewd  enough 
to  avoid  the  trap  laid  for  them.    Greatly  to  the  surprise,  and 
not  a  little  to  the  chagrin,  of  Henry,  the  Duke  of 

Politic  course  ,  pitt  ti  i 

of  Guise  and  truise,  arch-cnemv  or  the  Huguenots,  rephed  to  the 

Montpensier.  •  '     .  i       i    •         .  i  t 

royal  sunnnons  in  the  brietest  manner,  and  excused 
himself  from  giving  advice  in  so  momentous  an  affair,  on  the 
ground  of  his  youth  and  inexperience.  Since  the  king  had 
insisted  on  acquiring  all  credit  with  the  Roman  Catholics  as 
head  of  the  League,  Henry  of  Guise  was  resolved  that  Henry 
of  Valois  should  also  have  all  the  odium  with  the  Huguenots.* 
In  fact,  the  only  sentences  in  the  whole  note  that  could  possi- 
bly be  construed  as  advice  were  a  plea  for  justice  to  the  heretics 
in  case  they  behaved  themselves  quietly.  "It  is  true.  Sire," 
said  the  duke,  "  that  there  is  no  one  that  does  not  say  that,  in 
order  not  to  create  distrust  among  your  subjects  belonging  to 
the  new  religion,  you  ought  to  give  them  all  the  assurances  they 
shall  ask  or  be  able  to  imagine,  as,  indeed,  you  promise  them 
through  the  associations  which  it  has  pleased  you  to  command 
to  be  formed  in  your  kingdom.  Wherefore,  Sire,  it  appears  to 
me  that  you  ought  not  to  fail  in  this  matter  in  a  single  point ; 
provided  always  that  they  remain  quietly  in  their  houses,  with- 
out contravening  your  will  or  intention  in  any  respect."  '  The 
young  duke  had  never  made  a  more  politic  stroke — not  even 
when,  in  the  midst  of  the  massacre  of  Saint  Bartholomew's 


'  "Mais  ayant  ven  le  changement  du  roy,  il  a  pense  que  sa  Majeste  I'a  fait 
parler  ainsi  pour  le  mettre  en  mauvais  menage  avec  les  Huguenots,  et  11  en  a 
este  fasche.  Aussi  estoit-ce  le  seul  dessein  de  S.  M."  Journal  du  due  de 
Nevers,  ibid.,  i.  178. 

^  The  Duke  of  Nevers  says  in  his  diary  (January  4)  :  "  Le  roy  s'est  estonue 
des  advis  de  Montpensier  et  de  Guise,  pour  estre  courts.  Mais  ils  les  out  ainsi 
faits,  de  peur  que  le  roy  ne  les  monstrast  aux  Huguenots,  comme  M.  de  Guise 
I'a  dit  a  ma  femme."    Ibid.,  i.  169. 

^  Memoires  de  Nevers,  i.  247. 


140 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE. 


Ch.  II. 


Day,  he  ostentatiously  rescued  some  Huguenots  from  the  death 
awaiting  them  in  the  bloody  streets  of  Paris.'  The  Duke  of 
Montpensier  was  equally  prudent. 

A  fortnight  passed,  and  the  states,  after  despatching  those 
embassies  to  the  Huguenot  leaders  to  whose  fortunes  I  shall 
soon  have  occasion  to  refer,  were  admitted  to  the  royal 

Deputies    of  i       t  1  i    tt  i      i     •  i 

the  three  or-  in'esence,  and  addressed  Henry  tlirougli  their  chosen 

(iprs  before 

the  kiiifr  -  spokesmen.    The  Archbishop  of  Lvons,  in  behalf  of 

January  17.        f       ,  .      .        ,  ,  ^      ,  . 

the  clergy,  msisted  mucli  upon  tlie  religious  question, 
urgino'  that  no  other  faith  be  tolerated  in  France  than  the  ances- 
tral  faith  of  the  Romish  Church.  Baron  de  Sennecey,  for  the 
nobles,  followed  much  in  the  same  strain,  but  urged  that,  when 
all  exercise  of  the  Protestant  religion  should  have  been  removed, 
no  inquisition  be  made  into  the  tenets  of  the  individual  Hugue- 
nots, but  that  these  be  left  undisturbed  in  their  consciences,  each 
being  suffered  to  believe  what  he  would,  so  long  as  no  perni- 
cious example  were  set  to  others.  As  for  Versoi-is,  deputed  to 
speak  for  the  tiers  etat,  he  had  received  strict  instructions  from 
his  order  to  insert  the  words  "  without  war  "  in  the  plea  for  the 
enforcement  of  religious  uniformity.  But  the  orator,  noted 
though  he  was  for  his  eloquence,  lost  his  self-possession,  became 


'  The  Rise  of  the  Huguenots,  ii.  401,  note.  The  writer  of  the  pamphlet 
"Response  aiix  DecLarations  et  Protestations  de  Messieurs  de  Guise,  faictes 
sous  le  nom  de  Mouseigneur  le  Cardinal  de  Bourbon,  pour  justifier  leur  injuste 
prise  des  armes,"  published  in  1585,  asserts  that  tlie  Guises  are  moved  in  tlieir 
entire  course  not  by  religion  but  by  ambition.  In  ijroof  of  this  assertion,  he 
lays  stress  upon  the  incident  referred  to  in  the  text.  "  Et  de  fait  fut  par 
aucuns  zelateurs  Catholiques  remarque  qu'a  la  S.  Barthelemy,  apres  avoir  in- 
duit  le  feu  Roy  Charles  a  se  defEaire  de  ceux  de  la  religion,  ils  se  contenterent 
de  se  depescher  sous  ceste  ombre  des  ennemis  particuliers  de  leur  maison,  et 
venger  leurs  querelles  propres,  et  firent  les  doux  et  les  pitoyables,  en  tous  les 
lieux  de  leur  autliorite  faisant  proffit  en  toutes  sortes  de  la  rigueur  et  severite 
de  ce  prince,  qui  selon  la  vigueur  de  son  esprit  s'en  S9ent  tres  bien  apperce- 
voir."  Memoires  de  la  Ligue,  i.  93.  It  ought  not  to  be  forgotten,  however, 
that  other  instances  of  Henry  of  Guise's  humanity  can  be  alleged  which  need 
not  be  interpreted  as  due  to  selfish  motives.  For  example,  at  the  capture  of 
La  Charite,  when  the  Duke  of  Anjou  would  have  violated  the  terms  of  the 
capitulation,  Guise  would  not  consent,  and  rescued  the  Huguenots.  In  Agrippa 
d'Aubigne's  words,  "La  parut  le  Due  de  Guise  conservateur  de  la  foi  et  du 
droit  des  gens.''    Histoire  universelle,  ii.  282. 


1577. 


THE  STATES  GENERAL  OF  BLOIS. 


141 


confused,  and  forgot — so  he  maintained — to  introduce  the  im- 
portant qualification  of  his  demand.' 

It  was  the  seventeenth  of  January,  1577 — just  fifteen  years 
from  tlie  day  upon  which  Charles  the  Xinth  signed  tlie  famous 
Edict  of  January,  the  charter  of  the  Protestant  liberties.  The 
coincidence  is  startling,  as  indicative  of  the  revulsion  of  the 
popular  feeling  from  that  which  found  expression  in  the  states 
general  of  Orleans  and  Pontoise.  The  clergy,  indeed,  had 
learned  nothing,  forgotten  nothing.  But  a  radical  change  had 
come  over  the  other  orders  of  the  state,  since  Eochefort  and  Ad- 
miral Coligny  presented  petitions  for  the  concession  of  churches 
to  the  adherents  of  the  purer  faith,  and  the  memorial  ("  cahier  ") 
of  the  third  estate  demanded  the  absolute  repeal  of  all  intolei-ant 
legislation,  the  cessation  of  all  persecution,  and  declared  that 
"  the  diversity  of  opinion  entertained  by  the  king's  subjects  pro- 
ceeds from  nothing  else  than  the  strong  zeal  and  solicitude  tlicy 
have  for  the  salvation  of  their  souls."  '  Thus  much  had  civil 
war  accomplished.  So  completely  had  the  disastrous  and  ap- 
parently unavoidable  resort  to  arms  stifled  the  spirit  of  inquiry, 
and  sealed  bej'ond  question  the  religious  condition  of  France. 

Two  days  later  the  upper  estates  succeeded  in  bringing  the 
tiers  etat  to  sanction  the  repeal  of  the  edict  of  pacification. 

But  the  majority  was  small,  since  it  comprised  the 

The       Tiers  pi  r 

etat  consents  representatives  of  only  seven  out  of  the  twelve  sov- 

to  the  repeal        ^  .    .         „       ,  ® 

of  the  edicts  emmeuts  of  France,  and  the  remaining  five  were 

January  19.      ,       ,  .       ,     .  .  ,  T  . 

loud  in  their  protest  against  tlie  proposed  action. 
Meantime,  the  Huguenots  had  not  been  idle.  From  the 
moment  that  they  had  desci'ied  the  unmistakable  portents  of 
Hu^enot  approacliiug  danger,  their  leaders  had  been  making 
preparations.  ^j^Qgg  pj-eparatious  which  previous  experience  of  like 
perils  rendered  to  some  extent  natural  to  them.  Towns  were 
garrisoned  and  fortifications  repaired  ;  castles  were  manned  and 

'  Recueil  des  clioses  memorables,  587  ;  Agrippa  d'Aiibigne,  ii.  246-251 
(where  Sennecey's  .speech  is  given  at  great  length).    Saracini,  in  his  letter  of 
January  23,  makes  Versoris  utter  the  qualifying  clause  which  we  know  from 
other  sources  that  he  omitted.    Ncgociations  avec  la  Toscane,  iv.  104,  105. 
See  the  Rise  of  the  Huguenots,  i.  492. 

'  Namely  :  Burgundy,  Brittany,  Dauphiny,  Lyounais,  and  Guyenne.  Re- 


142 


THE  HUGUEXOTS  AND  HEXRY  OF  NAVARRE. 


Ch.  n. 


provisioned.  The  situation  was  tacitly  accepted  as  all  but  open 
war.  In  fact,  the  promptness  of  the  measures  adopted  amazed 
not  only  the  king  and  the  states,  but  even  wary  Catharine  de' 
Medici  herself."  Bent  upon  carrying  out  their  determination 
to  have  but  one  religion  in  France,  yet  reluctant  to  plunge  at 
once  into  a  costly  and  sanguinary  struggle  so  soon  after  the 
return  of  much-desired  peace,  the  states  general  resolved  to 
try  again  the  paths  of  diplomacy.  On  what  grounds,  moral  or 
probable,  they  imagined  that  the  King  of  Xavarre,  the  Pi'ince 
of  Conde,  or  even  Marshal  Damville  could  be  induced  to  acqui- 
esce in  the  proscription  of  the  Protestant  faith  does  not  appear. 
Certain,  however,  it  is  that  the  states  gravely  made  a  selection 
of  deputies,  carefully  drew  up  instructions  for  their  guidance, 
and  sent  them  out  on  their  whimsical  mission.' 

The  three  orders  were  represented,  in  the  delegation  to  the  King 
of  Kavarre,  by  the  Archbishop  of  Vieune,  Chevalier  Rubempre, 
and  Monsieur  Mesnai2;ier.  Long  and  ablv  did  thev  labor 

Envoys  sent         .  i     ,      t  .  ,  ,         r  ^         .  ■  i 

by  the  states  With  the  Kmg,  whom  tliey  round  at  Agen  just  returned 
Henry  of  from  the  sicgc  of  the  town  of  Marmande.  They  told 
him  of  the  regret  the  states  experienced  at  his  fail- 
ure to  come  to  Blois.  They  tried  to  persuade  him  that  ancient 
and  modern  history  alike  teach  that  a  diversity  of  religion 
is  alone  sntficient  to  unsettle  a  nation.  "  The  states  general," 
said  they,  "  have,  to  their  great  sorrow,  learned  by  experi- 
ence that  the  toleration  of  the  exercise  of  a  religion  contrary 
to  the  true  religion,  which  is  no  other  than  the  Catholic, 
Apostolic,  and  Roman  Church,  can  but  bring  a  perpetual  war, 
and  the  final  ruin  of  both  parties."  The  states  therefore 
begged  the  King  of  Xavarre  to  acquiesce  in  the  petition  which 
they  had  made  to  his  most  Christian  Majesty  to  suffer  no 
other  religion  than  the  Roman  Catholic  throughout  France. 


cueil  des  choses  memorables,  587,  588  ;  De  Thou,  v.  343 ;  Agrippa  d'Aubigne, 
ii.  251,  252.  '  Lestoile,  i.  80,  81. 

'  The  envoys  were  selected  before  the  close  of  the  old  year.  See  Saracini 
to  the  Grand  Duke,  December  28,  1576,  Negociations  avec  la  Toscane,  iv.  96. 
Their  instructions  were  read  January  2d,  and  adopted  on  the  4th  of  the  same 
month,  and  the  envoys  started  for  Gascony  on  the  6th.  Memoires  de  Nevers, 
i.  452    De  Thou,  v.  344. 


1577. 


THE  STATES  GENERAL  OP  BLOIS. 


143 


That  the  recent  edict  of  pacification  could  not  be  executed 
was  the  point  which  the  deputies  next  attempted  to  prove,  by 
reference  to  the  disturbances  alleged  to  have  resulted  from  it 
in  various  places,  to  the  annoyances  inflicted  upon  the  "  poor 
Catholics  "  residing  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  cities  pledged 
to  the  Protestants,  and  to  the  disappointment  connected  with 
the  "  chambre  mi-partie."  A  more  serious  matter  was  broached 
when  the  deputies  came  to  defend  the  violation  of  the  solemn 
oath  given  by  the  monarch  to  maintain  the  edict  of  1576  ;  and 
the  ground  was  distinctly  taken  that  the  king  cannot  pledge  his 
word  to  the  prejudice  of  his  entire  state  and  of  the  ancient 
customs  of  the  kingdom.  Now,  the  profession  of  the  Catholic 
religion,' they  argued,  is  not  merely  an  ancient  custom  ;  it  is  the 
chief  and  fundamental  law  of  the  realm,  and  the  essential  form 
that  gives  to  the  kings  of  France  the  name  and  title  of  "  Chris- 
tian." The  oath  upon  the  crucifix  taken  by  the  king  at  his  cor- 
onation, and  by  all  royal  officers  at  their  assumption  of  office,  is 
as  unchangeable  as  the  Salic  law,  being  even  more  fundamental ; 
and  neither  king  nor  officer  can  henceforth  depart  from  it  for  any 
reason,  occasion,  or  pretext  wdiatsoever.  That  oath  cannot  be 
superseded  by  any  edict,  much  less  by  such  an  edict  as  that  now 
in  question,  the  very  reading  of  which  proves  that  it  was  ex- 
torted by  force  and  by  the  violence  of  the  times.  The  deputies 
assured  the  King  of  Navarre,  however,  that  they  were  expressly 
authorized  to  promise  the  adherents  of  the  new  opinion — "  ceux 
de  la  nouvelle  opinion  "  —  that  they  would  not  be  molested.  In 
fact,  the  states — such  was  their  "  extreme  desire  to  see  a  good 
and  immortal  peace"  in  France — had  not  only  commissioned 
them  to  offer  to  take  the  necessary  oath  to  maintain  it,  but  to 
state  that  they  would  petition  the  king  to  take  a  like  oath  and  to 
impose  it  upon  all  princes,  lords,  and  gentlemen  whom  it  might 
concern.  Nothing  seems  to  have  been  said  respecting  any 
means  to  be  taken  for  rendering  the  new  oath  any  more  bind- 
ing than  the  oath  given  to  maintain  the  "  perpetual  and  irrev- 
ocable "  edict  which  it  was  now  proposed  to  repudiate.' 


'  "Instruction  des  gens  des  trois  estats  du  royaume  de  France.  .  .  . 
baillee  icelle  instruction  a  Monsieur  I'arclievesque  de  Vienne,  a  Monsieur 


144  THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.        Cii.  IL 


Henry  of  Xavarre  listened  respectfully  to  the  message  from 
Blois.    He  is  even  recorded  to  liave  shed  tears  as  the  eloquent 
Archbishop  of  Yienne  hinted  at  the  disasters  likely  to  befall 
him,  should  he  turn  a  deaf  ear,  as  the  archbishop 

The  King  of  ,  m  i       i  i       •  i 

Navarre's  re-  suggcstcd  that  possibl}''  the  statcs  general  might  con- 
clude to  declare  all  that  should  hereafter  take  arms 
against  the  king  or  come  to  an  iinderstanding  with  foreigners 
incapable  of  holding  office  or  of  succeeding  to  any  dignities 
and  especially  to  the  crown."  But  his  written  reply,  although 
perhaps  more  conciliatory  than  was  required  by  the  circum- 
stances of  the  case,  was  a  distinct  declaration  that  Henry  cast 
in  his  lot  with  the  Protestants.  Although  he  praised  the 
states  general  for  their  zeal,  Kavarre  frankly  expressed  his 
fear  that  their  request  for  the  toleration  of  but  one  religion 
would  entail  new  disturbances  more  pregnant  with  disaster 
than  any  previous  struggle ;  for  now,  the  view  having  once 
been  formally  sanctioned  that  the  king  is  powerless  to  plight 
his  faith,  no  secure  accommodation  with  the  Huguenots  could  be 
made.  Henceforth  the  struggle  must  go  on  to  the  bitter  end. 
Besides,  it  is  one  thing  to  deprive  men  of  what  has  been  given 
them  and  quite  another  not  to  have  granted  it  to  them  at  first. 
If  it  cuts  to  the  heart  the  Roman  Catholics,  who  have  always 
enjoyed  unmolested  exercise  of  their  religion,  merely  to  see 
the  Protestants  enjoy  the  right  of  worship,  it  will  irritate  the 
Protestants  far  more  to  attempt  to  rob  them  of  the  right  so 
often  and  so  long  permitted.  Moreover,  be  it  remembered 
that  the  oftener  and  the  more  vigorously  it  has  been  under- 
taken to  abolish  the  reformed  faith  in  France,  the  greater  has 
been  the  decadence  of  the  Catholic  Church  and  its  ecclesiastical 
order.  And,  in  fact,  the  experience  of  France  has  been  but 
the  counterpart  of  that  of  Hungary,  Bohemia,  Germany,  Scot- 


Kubempre,  Chevallier  de  I'Ordre  du  Roy,  et  a  Monsieur  Mesnaigier,  General 
des  finances  de  Languedoc,  envoyez  vers  le  Roy  de  Navarre."  Blois,  January 
4,  1577.    Memoires  de  Nevers,  i.  445-452. 

'  "  Que  peut-estre  ils  concluront  a  declarer  que  tous  les  biens  de  ceux  qui 
prendront  les  armes  centre  le  roy  a  I'advenir,  on  qui  auront  intelligence  avec 
les  estrangers,  seront  confisquez,  et  eux  incapables  de  toutes  successions,  dig- 
nitez  et  offices,  et  mesmement  de  la  couronne.''    Ibid.,  i.  457. 


1577. 


THE  STATES  GENERAL  OF  BLOIS. 


145 


land,  and  other  countries.  Everywhere  Protestantism  has  baf- 
fled the  attempt  to  annihilate  it.  Even  if  this  religion  were  an 
error  and  a  heresy  —  which  it  is  not — it  ought  to  be  and  can  be 
removed  by  no  such  political  gathering  as  that  of  the  states 
general,  but  rather  by  an  oecumenical  council,  free  and  lawfully 
assembled,  or  by  a  national  council,  in  which  all  sides  will  gain 
a  hearing.  To  the  particular  request  addressed  to  him  by  the 
states  general  that  he  should  aid  them  in  securing  the  exclusion 
of  eveiy  form  of  worship  except  the  Romish,  and  consequently 
that  he  should  forsake  the  religion  he  now  professes,  Henry  of 
Xavarre  makes  the  following  reply,  significant  in  the  light 
of  subsequent  events  :  "I  am  accustomed  to  pray  to  God  every 
^  da}-,  and  I  pray  to  Him  now,  in  accordance  with  my 

nificantas-    belief,  that  He  may  be  pleased  to  confirm  and  assure 

Burance.  .  ciit         '.-iii  ii 

me  in  the  grace  or  holding  it  inviolable  ;  and  that, 
if  it  be  bad.  He  may  be  pleased  to  enlighten  my  understanding, 
to  show  me  the  good,  and  give  me  the  will  to  follow  and  em- 
brace it,  and  to  live  and  die  in  it,  and  after  expelling  from  my 
spirit  all  errors,  to  grant  me  the  strength  and  the  means  to  help 
in  expelling  it  from  this  kingdom,  and,  if  possible,  from  the 
whole  world." ' 

In  striking  contrast  with  Xavarre's  studied  politeness  and 
conciliatory  words  was  the  determined  attitude  of  the  Prince  of 


'  "  Et  apres  avoir  chasse  de  son  esprit  tous  les  erreurs,  luy  donner  force  et 
mo3'fin  pour  I'aider  a  la  chasser  de  ce  royaume,  et  de  tout  le  monde,  s'il  est 
possible."  Response  du  roy  de  Navarre  a  Finstruction  des  deputez,  Memoires 
de  Nevers,  i.  453-457.  Hereupon  Mr.  Browning  (History  of  the  Huguenots, 
ii.  68)  aptly  remarks:  "This  declaration  is  highly  characteristic  of  the 
epoch.  He  was  at  the  time  in  arms  for  liberty  of  conscience,  and  yet  declared 
his  readiness  to  become  a  persecutor,  if  a  change  took  place  in  liis  opinions." 
— That  the  reader  may  fully  understand  the  case,  he  ought  to  be  put  in  pos- 
session of  two  additional  facts  :  1st.  That  Henry  of  Navarre  took  pains,  in  the 
course  of  his  answer,  to  clear  himself  of  all  responsibility  for  the  proscription 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  religion  in  the  principality  of  Beam  by  his  mother, 
Jeanne  d'Albret.  2d.  That,  although  the  Protestant  ministers  disapproved 
and  erased  from  the  draft  of  the  answer  the  sentence  in  which  the  king  al- 
luded to  a  possible  conversion  to  the  Romish  faith,  Henry  insisted  upon  re- 
inserting the  objectionable  passage.  Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  ii.  259.  This  histo- 
rian adds  that  the  archbisliop  made  Navarre's  submissive  words  even  more 
humble  in  his  report  tlian  they  were  in  the  written  reply. 
Vol.  I.— 10 


146  THE  HUGUKNOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  XAVARRR        Ch.  II. 


Conde.  The  two  cousins  were  of  different  natures.  It  must, 
indeed,  be  remembered  that,  while  Henry  of  ^Navarre  was,  as  he 
never  failed  to  remind  the  deputies  of  the  states  and 
to°re<5o^iz7  all  others  with  whom  he  had  dealings,  the  "  third  per- 
the delegates,  g^^j^gg     ^j^g  kingdom,"' '  the  other  Hemy  stood  too 

far  removed  to  entertain  any  expectations  of  succeeding  to  the 
crown  of  France.  But  historv  will  not  permit  us  to  forget  the 
constancy  of  the  prince  and  the  moral  weakness  of  the  Xavar- 
rese  king  at  the  massacre  of  Saint  Bartholomew's  Day,  when 
not  the  possible  attainment  of  a  crown,  but  preservation  of  life, 
was  in  question.''  On  the  present  occasion,  while  Navarre 
bandied  compliments  with  the  Archbishop  of  Tienne,  Conde, 
at  Saint  Jean  d'Angely,  absolutely  refused  to  recognize  the 
Bishop  of  Autun  and  his  companions  coming  in  the  name  of 
the  states.  The  letter  of  which  they  were  the  bearers  was  re- 
turned to  them  unopened.  The  prince  declared  to  the  envoys 
that  he  would  rather  be  buried  in  the  depths  of  the  earth  than 
yield  consent  to  the  pernicious  projects  of  those  who  had  al- 
lowed themselves  to  be  bribed  by  the  sworn  enemies  of  the 
crown.  He  honored  and  loved  the  clergy,  he  would  do  every- 
thing in  his  power  to  maintain  the  noblesse,  and  he  pitied  the 
members  of  the  third  estate  because  of  the  ruin  impending  over 
their  heads  ;  for  these  pretended  states  general  were  going  to 
cut  their  throats.  But  he  refused  to  acknowledge  the  convo- 
cation at  Blois  as  a  body  representing  the  three  orders  of 
the  kingdom.'  About  the  same  time  (on  the  twenty-third  of 
January)  Conde  put  forth  a  printed  protest,  at  La  Rochelle, 
„  against  the  action  of  the  "suborned  and  corrupted 

Conde  s  pro-       o  r 

states  that  have  been  held  in  Blois.''  In  this  docu- 
ment the  attempted  suppression  of  the  i-eformed  religion  was 
described  as  a  breach  of  the  public  faith  and  of  sacred  oaths, 
and  attributed  to  the  king's  evil  counsellors,  pensioners  of  the 
King  of  Spain — the  same  unpatriotic  men  that  sought  to  pro- 

'  "  Ayant  cet  honneur  d'estre  latroisieme  personne  de  France."  Response  du 
roy  de  Navarre,  Memoires  de  Nevers,  i.  456.  See  Stahelin,  Der  Uebertritt 
Konig  Heinrichs  des  Vierten,  57. 

•  Rise  of  the  Huguenots,  ii.  468,  469. 

'  Eecueil  des  clioses  memorables,  589  ;  De  Thou,  v.  352,  353. 


1577. 


THE  STATES  GENERAL  OF  BLOIS. 


147 


long  their  tenui-e  of  power  by  plunging  their  native  land  in 
discord  and  wretchedness,  and  by  causing  tlie  monarch  to  reject 
the  proffer  of  the  protectorate  of  Flanders  and  Artois,  and  de- 
cline the  gift  of  the  seigniory  of  Genoa.  Under  these  circum- 
stances the  prince  announced  his  resumption  of  arms,  "  by 
command  and  under  the  authority  of  the  King  of  Navarre, 
prince  primate  of  France,  protector  of  the  Reformed  Churches 
and  the  associated  Catholics,  and  royal  lieutenant  in  Guyenne." 
lie  swore  not  to  lay  down  his  arms  until  he  had  re-established 
the  kingdom  in  its  full  splendor  and  dignity,  restored  liberty  to 
the  states  and  authority  to  the  edicts,  and  delivered  the  poor 
people  from  the  insupportable  tributes  invented  by  the  Italians.' 

If  Marshal  Damville's  reply  to  the  message  of  the  states  was 
less  belligerent,  his  representations  of  the  disastrous  results 
likely  to  follow  the  repeal  of  the  edict  of  pacification  were 
equally  strong.    Both  in  his  communication  to  the 

Marshal  i    .  i 

Damviiie'sre-  statcs  aud  lu  a  documcnt  written,  soon  after,  m  an- 
states  and  to  swcr  to  au  announcement  from  the  king  himself,"  the 

the  king.  t     i       i  •  i      t      •  i  . 

marshal,  while  laying  great  stress  on  the  piety  or  the 
Montmorencies  as  descendants  of  "  the  first  Christian  baron," 
frankly  set  fortli  his  conviction  that  recent  events  in  his  own 
province  of  Languedoc  had  disproved  the  old  fallacy  that 
diversity  of  religious  faith  necessarily  entails  enmity.  "  Since 
the  so  happy  peace  granted  by  God  and  by  his  majesty — a 
peace  supposed  by  everyone  to  be  perpetual,  the  hearts  of 
men,  especially  in  this  government,  had  rid  themselves  of  the 
veil  of  passion,  and  had  become  convinced  that  it  is  easy  for 
persons  of  two  different  religions  to  bear  with  each  other  in  a 
friendly  fashion  as  true  compatriots."  ^    And  this  fact  the  mar- 


'  "  Les  Protestations  de  M.  le  Prince  de  Conde,  estant  lors  a  la  Rochelle, 
apportes  en  ce  lieu  de  Blois,  le  deuxieme  de  Fevrier.''  Memoires  de  Nevers, 
i.  470,  471.    Also  in  Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  ii.  236-8. 

-  For  a  summary  of  the  former  see  Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  ii.  260,  261  ;  for  the 
text  of  the  latter,  "  Instruction  du  Mareschal  de  Dampville  au  Sieur  Doignon, 
chevalier  de  I'ordre  du  Roi,  envoye  vers  ledit  mareschal  en  febvrier,  1577." 
J.  Loutcliitzky,  Documents  inedits  pour  servir  a  I'histoire  de  la  Reforme  et  de 
la  Ligue  (1875),  56-GO. 

^  "  Avoient  juge  et  conneu  quil  est  aise  de  se  compatir  amiablement  en 
deux  religions  comme  vrais  compatriottes. "    Loutcliitzky,  57. 


148 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE. 


Cu.  H. 


shal  established  by  a  reference  to  the  recent  agreement  entered 
into  by  the  provincial  states  of  Languedoc,  meeting  at  Beziers, 
which  had  sworn,  before  Damville  and  Joyeuse,  to  live  accord- 
ing to  the  provisions  of  the  royal  edict  of  pacification — an 
agreement  all  the  more  significant,  because,  of  those  that  made 
it,  more  than  two  hundred  were  of  the  old  faith,  and  not  six 
were  of  the  reformed  religion. 

Surely  the  idea  of  religious  toleration  had  made  good  and 
substantial  progress  when  a  marshal  of  France,  a  son  of  the 
grim  constable  Anne  de  Montmorencv,  could  feel  it 

Progress  of 

religious  toi-  ncccssary  to  "  discharge  his  conscience,"  as  he  affirmed, 
both  to  the  states  general  and  to  his  king,  by  the  ad- 
vocacy of  such  views.  But  Damville  went  further.  He  plainly 
told  Henry  the  Third  and  the  states  that,  though  their  desire 
for  one  single  religion  in  France  was  good,  the  method  proposed 
for  the  attainment  of  the  end  was  bad.  Ill-success  in  the  past, 
he  urged,  has  taught  us  this.  "  It  is  to  be  believed  that  this 
diversity  of  religion  is  a  matter  which  God  has  to  do  with,  and 
that  He  lias  reserved  the  cure  of  it  to  Himself  alone.  We 
must,  therefore,  resign  everything  to  His  providence  and  good- 
ness, and  heal  this  disease  by  the  good  and  holy  conduct  of 
churchmen,  or  by  a  good  council,  which  is  the  true  remedy  for 
religious  maladies,  without  resorting  to  idle  means  and  aggra- 
vating it  still  further  by  violence."  ' 

Meanwhile,  the  associations  for  the  defence  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  faith  had  been  spreading  with  more  rapidity,  now  that 
the  king  had  himself  given  them  formal  sanction  and  had  em- 
powered his  own  officers  to  engage  in  the  work  of  obtaining 
signatures  to  the  roll  of  their  members."    Henry  indeed  seemed 


'  "  II  a  a  croire  que  ceste  diversite  de  relligiou  touche  a  Dieu  et  luy  seul 
s'est  retenu  le  remede  dicelle,"  etc.    Loutchitzky,  58. 

'  See  tlie  articles  of  .several  associations,  e.g.,  of  Moulins  (Bourbonnois),  dated 
January  22,  1577  ;  of  Dijon  (Burgundy) ;  and  of  Troyes  (Champagne)  dated 
March  32,  1577,  in  Loutchitzky,  Documents  inedits  pour  servir  a  I'histoire  de 
la  Reforme  et  de  la  Ligue,  34,  35-37,  37-39,  From  the  minutes  of  the  coun- 
cil of  the  city  of  Toulouse,  from  December  23,  1576,  to  March  20,  1577,  the 
gradual  spread  of  the  League  by  the  confederation  of  other  cities  and  districts 
— Verdun,  Quercy,  etc. — may  be  traced.    Ibid.,  25-20. 


1577. 


THE  STATES  GENERAL  OF  BLOIS. 


149 


to  count  upon  the  troops  which  the  associations  coiald  set  on  foot 
as  an  important  element  of  his  military  forces,  and  his  trusty 
counsellors  were  carefully  considering  whether  these  men  could 
most  advantageously  be  emploj'ed  in  the  field  or  in  defending 
their  own  homes.'  Not  everywhere,  however,  was  it  easy  to 
disarm  the  apprehensions  of  the  citizens,  grown  pardonably  sus- 
opposition  to  pi<^io"s  through  their  past  experience.    In  Paris,  when 

signing  the  |-]jg  copics  of  the  manifesto  of  the  League  were  car- 
League  in  r  o 

Paris,  Yied  around  from  house  to  house  to  receive  the  signa- 
tures of  the  burgesses,  the  best  citizens  either  signed  with  re- 
strictions or  absolutely  declined  to  have  anything  to  do  with  the 
paper,  and  denounced  it  as  a  new  device  of  oppression  and  ex- 
tortion. As  for  the  authorities  of  the  city  itself,  upon  \vhom 
Henry  had  called  for  a  sum  of  money  to  pay  five  thousand  foot 
and  two  thousand  horse  to  be  employed  in  this  sacred  cause, 
they  positively  refused  to  accede  to  his  plan,  denouncing  it  as 
an  absurdity  to  hope  in  so  summary  a  way  to  do  away  with  a  re- 
ligion that  had  outstood  sixteen  years  of  war,  and  they  prophesied 
that  the  League  would  prove  a  detriment  rather  than  an  advan- 
tage to  the  royal  cause.^  At  Amiens  the  people  re- 
in Amiens,  11    1  ,      r  ,  -r..       n  1,1. 

pelled  by  force  a  troop  of  ricard  gentry  and  soldiers, 
with  M.  d'llumieres  at  their  head,  who  wished  to  compel  them 
to  subscribe  to  the  League.  Afterwards  Amiens  sent  deputies 
to  Henry,  ofPering  the  king  six  thousand  livres  to  be  exempted 
from  signing  the  obnoxious  compact ;  and  his  majesty,  who  asked 
nothing  better  than  sucli  refusals  if  he  might  obtain  such  offers, 
readily  consented.'  In  the  little  town  of  Frovins,  whither  the 
Ana  in  Prov-  ^'"»  ^ad  Sent  M.  de  Rosne,  the  three  orders  of  the 

bailiwick  deliberated  maturely  upon  the  proposition 
submitted  to  them,  and  came  to  a  very  sensible  conclusion.  "  The 
League,"  said  they,  "  is  a  novelty.  We  have  never  seen  or 
heard  the  like  in  France.  Our  deputies  are  yet  at  Blois,  and 
whether  they  have  accepted  or  refused  the  League  we  know  not. 

'  The  latter  was  the  view  of  L'Aubespine,  Bishop  of  Liimoges.  Memoires  de 
Nevers,  i.  271. 

Lestoile,  under  date  of  February  1st,  ii.  8:]  -,  Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  ii.  253-5G  : 
Saracini  to  the  grand  duke,  January  30,  1577,  Negociations  avec  la  Toscane, 
iv.  107.  3  Lestoile,  February  15tli,  i.  83. 


150 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENKY  OF  NAVABRE. 


Cu.  II. 


There  is  no  need  of  our  taking  an  oath  to  maintain  the  only 
religion  practised  in  this  region,  nor  of  binding  the  three  orders 
by  their  signatures  to  furnish  the  king  with  money  which  they 
have  never  refused  to  give  hini.  We  cannot  sign  the  League 
without  knowing  what  the  other  cities  of  France  have  done, 
and  especially  Paris,  the  capital  of  the  realm  and  the  nursing 
mother  of  kings." '  Great  was  the  disgust  of  the  royal  envoy, 
who  had  confidently  expected  to  reap  a  rich  harvest  in  the  man- 
agement of  the  funds  to  be  raised  by  the  poor  inhabitants  for 
the  support  of  the  new  "  crusade."  But  for  want  of  a  better 
way  of  venting  his  vexation,  he  confined  himself,  when  next  he 
desired  to  enter  Provins,  to  climbing  deliberately  over  the  in- 
significant walls  and  making  his  way  in,  followed  by  his  suite — 
a  derisive  act  that  called  down  upon  his  unfortunate  head  much 
impotent  wrath.^ 

In  point  of  fact  the  "  Sacred  League  "  was  by  no  means  in 
a  very  sound  or  healthy  state.  With  all  the  efforts  put  forth 
Distress  of  in  its  bclialf,  the  people,  utterly  exhausted  by  the 
the  people,  -weight  of  their  present  burdens,  refused  to  bend 
their  necks  to  the  fresh  yoke.  What  they  longed  for  was 
peace— peace  at  any  price.  Everywhere  throughout  France 
despair  seemed  to  have  seized  the  laboring  classes.  Li  Poitou 
and  Guyenne  it  assumed  a  startling  shape.  As  the  nobleman 
whom  the  king  had  sent  to  confer  with  Henry  of  Navarre  was 
passing  through  the  region,  the  peasants  flocked  by  hundreds 
to  the  I'oadside.  They  threw  themselves  on  their  knees  or 
prostrated  themselves  in  the  dust  before  him.  "  If  the  king 
intends  to  continue  the  war,"  they  cried,  "we  very  humbly 
beg  him  to  be  pleased  to  cut  our  throats  at  once  and  put  us  out 
of  our  miser3^"'    The  harmony  of  the  deputies  at  Blois  was 


'  Claude  Haton's  account  is,  as  usual,  long  and  circumstantial.  Memoires, 
ii.  881-887. 

The  curate  of  Meriot  saw  in  the  contemptuous  act  of  M.  de  Rosne  nothing 
less  than  sheer  treason,  and  the  Provinois  punsters  of  the  day,  playing  upon 
his  name,  took  occasion  to  predict  the  total  ruin  of  the  city,  now  that  so  great 
a  river  had  come  all  the  way  from  Lyons  to  overflow  their  fortifications.  Ibid., 
ii.  888. 

^  "  Si  le  roy  vouloit  continuer  la  guerre,  qu'il  lui  pleust  leur  faire  couper 
la  gorge,  sans  taut  les  faire  lauguir.''   Lestoile,  i.  84.    It  is  a  suggestive  com- 


loTT. 


THE  STATES  GENERAL  OP  BLOIS. 


151 


more  apparent  than  real.  The  members  of  the  third  estate  had 
never  been  fully  reconciled  to  the  ideas  of  the  two  upper  orders. 
They  grumbled  at  the  blunder  of  Yersoris  in  neglecting  to  fol- 
low his  instructions.  Isot  content  with  their  first  ineffectual 
The  tiers  c  tat  attempts  to  inducc  the  clergy  and  the  nobles  to  unite 
for  peace.  -with  tlieui  in  rcopcning  the  matter  and  seeking  the 
re-enactment  of  the  despised  edict,  they  took  advantage  of  the 
pacific  report  of  the  Duke  of  Montpensier  to  which  reference 
will  shortly  be  made.  After  thanking  the  duke  for  his  hu- 
mane and  sensible  advice,  they  left  the  church  of  Saint  Sauveur 
and  proceeded  in  a  body  to  the  hotel  de  ville.  Here  they 
promptly  took  action,  begging  Henry  to  reunite  his  subjects 
peaceably,  and,  in  proof  of  their  assertion  that  this  had  been 
their  original  desire,  appended  to  their  petition  a  copy  of  their 
grossly  misrepresented  action  of  the  fifteenth  of  January.  In 
vain  did  the  advocates  of  war  place  obstacles  in  the  way,  alleg- 
ing, among  other  things,  that  the  states  general  had  lost  too 
many  members,  by  the  return  of  deputies  to  their  homes,  to  be 
competent  to  transact  business ;  Jean  Bodin  was  more  than  a 
match  for  the  objectors  in  legal  erudition,  and  proved  that  a 
quorum  of  two-thirds  of  a  deliberative  assembly  was  possessed 
of  all  the  powers  of  the  entire  body.  Moreover,  drawing  upon 
that  favorite  treasury  of  illustration,  the  laws  and  customs  of 
the  ancients,  he  showed  that  the  Romans  had  not  suffered  war 
to  be  declared  without  the  formal  consent  of  the  largest  repre- 
sentation of  the  state,  whereas  they  permitted  the  conclusion 
of  peace  in  the  easiest  way.  The  end  of  the  whole  matter 
was  that  the  third  estate  drew  up  and  presented  to  the  king, 
on  the  twenty-seventh  of  February,  a  petition  wherein  the 
policy  of  peace  was  distinctly  and  forcibly  enunciated." 


mentary  upon  this  touching  incident  that  some  of  the  king's  counsellors  delib- 
erately recommended  his  laying  waste  the  provinces  of  Guyenne  and  Langue- 
doc,  burning  the  crops,  and  reducing  the  inhabitants  to  the  last  straits,  in  order 
that  the  people  in  their  despair  might  rise  against  Navarre  and  Damville  ! 
Saracini,  in  his  letter  of  February  13,  1577,  records  both  the  fact  that  the 
diabolic  counsel  was  given,  and  the  fact  that  Henry  (be  it  said  to  his  honor) 
rejected  it.    Negociations  avec  la  Toscane,  iv.  109. 

'  Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  ii.  262,  263,  states  the  facts  at  length,  and  inserts  the 
whole  of  the  petition. 


152 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HEXRY  OF  XAVARRR        Ch.  H. 


Other  causes  contributed  to  dampen  the  warlike  zeal  which 
Henry  and  his  mother  had  lately  affected.  Too  much  stress 
ought  not  perhaps  to  be  laid  upon  the  arguments  of  the  Prot- 
estant deputies,  of  whom  two  bodies  had  for  some  weeks  been 
at  Blois,  and  who,  although  they  took  good  care  not  to  recog- 
nize the  validity  of  the  pretended  states  general,  were  unremit- 
tuig  in  their  eff'orts  to  further  the  interests  of  their  brethren.  A 
intercesion  of  sleeper  impression  was  apparently  made  by  the  words 
ihe  Germans,  (jf  J)ii]je  Johu  Casimir,  in  whose  name  Beutrich.  a 
bold  and  experienced  ambassador,  again  made  his  appearance. 
For  the  blunt  envoy  was  not  careful  to  measure  his  words  accord- 
ing to  the  rule  of  over-mild  and  courteous  diplomacy.  He  re- 
monstrated against  the  bad  faith  of  the  French  court,  and  asked 
what  likelihood  there  was  that  promises  which  the  exhausted 
condition  of  the  kingdom  had  not  permitted  Henry  to  keep  in 
time  of  peace  would  be  fulfilled  when  he  should  once  more 
plunge  into  a  new  and  needless  war.  Xot  content  with  this, 
Casimir  s  ambassador  presented  to  the  king  a  document  where- 
by he  renounced,  in  his  master's  name,  all  the  personal  honors 
and  privileges  conferred  upon  the  duke  by  the  late  treaty,  and 
intimated  that  Casimir  held  himself  relieved  of  any  reciprocal 
obligations.  In  fact,  while  asking  for  his  passports,  Beutrich 
made  no  attempt  to  disguise  his  intention  of  crossing  tlie 
Channel  in  furtherance  of  the  projected  Protestant  counter- 
league.'    The  covert  threat  was  not  without  effect :  especially 

when  Henrv  received  from  his  own  asents  iuforma- 
art  counter-  tlou  that  the  dukc  had  taken  his  defiant  coiu-se  in 

consequence  of  promises  from  Queen  Elizabeth  that 
he  should  be  appointed  to  the  command  of  all  the  troops  here- 
after brought  into  the  field  by  the  Protestant  confederates.' 


'  De  Thou,  V.  358.  359  :  Eecueil  des  choses  memorables,  591 :  Languet.  i. 
290.  The  text  of  Peter  Beutrich's  letter  to  Henrv  IIL.  dated  March  7,  1577, 
is  given  bv  Groen  van  Prinsterer.  vi.  56.  "  Son  excellence  m"a  commande," 
he  wrote,  ''de  remettre  entre  les  mains  de  Y.  iL.  avant  mon  depart  de  vostre 
coor,  toutes  les  terres  et  estats  desquels  il  vous  a  plea  le  gratifier  puis 
nagneres."  The  reason  assigned  was  the  circulation  of  rtunors,  both  in  Ger- 
many and  in  France,  that  these  personal  advantages  prevented  him  from  a 
manly  advocacy  of  the  rights  of  the  troops  that  had  followed  him  into  France. 

■  Gaspard  de  Schomberg  to  Henry  in.,  April  S.  1577,  Groen  van  Prinsterer, 


1577. 


THE  STATES  GENERAL  OP  BLOIS. 


153 


But  what  influenced  the  king  more  than  Ilnguenot  remon- 
strances or  German  threats — more  even  than  the  poor  success 
attending  the  studied  misrepresentations  of  his  tool  Villequier 
with  the  Langrave  of  Hesse  and  the  other  princes  beyond  the 
Rhine' — was  the  impossibility  his  majesty  encountered  of  ex- 
tracting money  from  the  ah-eady  depleted  purses  of 

The  kin*'  n  j  J        r  L 

fails  to  Ob-    his  subjects.    That  war  cannot  be  carried  on  without 

tain  funds.  c        i  -  f      -i-  i  r 

the.  means  tor  the  purctiase  or  mihtary  stores  and  tor 
the  payment  of  soldiers,  was  an  axiom  none  could  have  been 
found  bold  enough  to  deny.  That  Henry  even  in  time  of  peace 
was  always  in  want  of  money  was  equally  notorious.  He  was 
ready  to  borrow  on  the  right  and  on  the  left,  of  his  own  sub- 
jects or  of  foreigners.  His  penury  led  him  from  time  to  time 
to  have  recourse  to  the  most  impolitic  and  ruinous  expedients. 
In  July,  this  same  year,  he  signed  an  edict  by  which  he  author- 
ized the  sale  to  one  person  in  every  parish  of  the  kingdom  of 
perpetual  exemption  from  the  burdens  of  taxation,  fi-om  all 
forms  of  "  tallies,"  as  well  as  from  other  "  imposts." "  Little 
cared  this  degenerate  king  for  the  next  generation,  foreseeing— 
if,  indeed,  he  foresaw  any  thing — that  with  him  the  race  of  Valois 
on  the  throne  of  France  would  become  extinct.  Happily  there 
were  in  the  states  general  men  who  did  care.  So  when  Henry, 
having  lost  all  hope  of  procuring  new  taxes,  desired  the  sanction 
of  the  states  to  a  sale  of  a  portion  of  the  royal  domain,  the  dele- 
gates of  the  people,  with  the  unterrified  Bodin  again  at  their 
head,  refused  to  permit  the  alienation  of  property  which  did 
not  belong  to  any  one  man,  but  to  the  nation  as  such.'  It  was 
evident  that  the  people  had  learned  something  ;  they  would 
not  pour  their  resources  into  the  leaky  treasury  of  a  monarch 
whose  prodigality  predestined  him  to  impoverish  not  only  him- 
self but  his  subjects. 


ubi  supra.  The  rumor  of  tlie  Protestant  counter-league,  it  was  reported, 
dampened  the  zeal  of  many  persons  wlio  were  on  the  point  of  joining  the 
Roman  Catholic  League.    Memoires  de  Henry  III.,  20,  21. 

'  See  Von  Polenz,  iv.  91-102  ;  De  Thou,  v.  360-G4  ;  Recueil  des  choses 
memorables,  591,  592. 

'-  Isambert,  Recueil  des  anciennes  lois  fran^aises,  xiv.  337,  where  the  title 
of  the  edict  alone  is  given.  -  De  Thou,  v.  347,  348,  855. 


154 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE. 


Ch.  II. 


Another  rojal  council  was  held,  ostensibly  to  obtain  advice, 
in  reality  to  obtain  a  pretext  for  undoing  everything  that  had 
been  done.    The  occasion  was  the  return  of  the  Duke 

Fresh  consul-      /.  -.  r  •       r  •     •  tt 

tation  about  ot  JVlontpensier  from  a  mission  to  Henry  of  Navarre, 

the  war.  ,  •         i     f    i        i  i 

more  than  ever  convinced  of  the  absurdity  of  a  new  at- 
tempt to  crush  the  Huguenots.  The  three  cardinals — Bourbon, 
Guise,  and  Este — with  a  few  laymen,  were  still  eager  for  the 
suppression  of  heresy  by  force  of  arms,  if  need  be.  The  Duke 
of  Xevers,  always  a  fiery  advocate  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church,  distinguished  himself  for  his  urgency.  "  What  will 
men  think.  Sire,"  said  he,  "  but  that  your  zeal  toward  God  has 
Nevers  ro-  S^^^^^  cold,  if  you  are  seen  to  change  your  purpose 
poses  a  cru-   witliout  any  new  necessity.    And  as  to  the  divine 

side  of  the  matter,  do  what  you  can,  and  God  will  do 
the  rest.  So  did  your  predecessor.  Saint  Louis,  who  when  he 
had  lost  one  battle  in  Holy  Land,  fighting  against  the  enemies 
of  God's  name,  did  not  lose  courage,  but  returned  thither  again." 

But  the  partisans  of  pacific  measures — Morvilliers,  Cosse, 
Biron,  Montpensier,  and  his  son  the  Prince  Dauphin,  and  others 
— were  not  less  outspoken  ;  especially  as  it  was  no  secret  that 
Catharine  was  now  quite  as  resolved  to  have  peace  as  she  had 
been,  a  few  weeks  before,  to  have  war.  For  had  she  not  of 
late  hinted  that  it  might  be  well  to  allow  a  little  latitude  in 
religion,  until  such  time  as  a  general  council  might  be  convened 
— a  tolerant  suffsrestion  which  the  amiable  Cardinal  of  Bourbon 
met  with  the  truculent  remark  that  he  would  himself  be  happy 
to  act  as  the  hangman  of  his  two  Huguenot  nephews.'  Had  she 
not  by  her  intercessions  with  the  king  called  down  upon  her 
head  his  hot  displeasure  ?  "  This  is  the  third  time  you  have 
spoken  to  me  of  peace,"  he  had  said.  "  If  you  loved  my  inter- 
ests you  would  not  seek  to  persuade  me.  Do  not  speak  to  me 
again  about  the  matter."  ^  The  queen-mother's  speech  on  the 
present  occasion  deserves  attention  on  many  accounts. 

"  My  son,"  said  Catharine,  who  had  listened  impatiently  to 


'  Diary  of  Nevers,  under  date  of  February  9,  1577  ;  Memoires,  i.  172. 
'  This  interesting  incident  is  related  by  Saracini,  in  liis  letter  of  February 
13,  1577  ;  Negociations  avec  la  Toscane,  iv.  110. 


1577.  THE  STATES  GENERAL  OF  BLOIS.  155 

Nevers'  plea,  "  you  know  that  I  was  among  the  first  to  advise 
you  to  permit  but  one  religion  in  your  realm,  and  that  I  told 

Catharine  be- 

you  that  you  must  make  use  to  this  end  of  the  states 
spoken'^aiivo-  general  which  are  here  met.  You  know,  moreover, 
cate  o£  peace,  ^jj^j;  practices,  wliat  dealings,  I  have  had  with  the 
deputies  o£  the  three  orders ;  especially  with  the  Archbishop 
of  Lyons,  who  at  first  was  opposed  to  action.'  So,  too,  with 
many  others  of  tlie  church,  the  noblesse,  and  the  tiers  etat, 
to  whom,  by  your  command,  I  spoke,  and  whom  I  brought  to 
this  resolution.  And,  to  tell  the  truth,  they  could  never  have 
gone  so  far,  but  for  your  command,  since  most  of  them  alleged 
that  they  had  no  such  powers  conferred  upon  them  by  their 
instructions.  Thereby  it  may  be  seen  that  my  intention  has 
always  been  that  there  should  be  but  one  Catholic  and  Roman 
religion  in  your  kingdom.  Accordingly,  the  maintenance  of 
that  religion  has  been  my  aim  ever  since  your  brother's  acces- 
sion to  the  throne,  sixteen  years  ago.  This  will  enable  me  to 
speak  with  the  greater  boldness. 

"  I  am  a  Catholic,  and  have  as  good  a  conscience  as  anyone 
else  can  have,"  the  queen  mother  proceeded.  "  Many  a  time, 
during  the  reign  of  the  late  king,  have  I  exposed  my  life  against 
the  Huguenots.  That  is  not  what  I  fear.  I  am  ready  to  die, 
for  I  am  fifty-eight  years  old,  and  I  hope  to  go  to  paradise. 
What  I  do  not  desire  is  to  outlive  my  children,  which  would 
give  me  a  cruel  death  indeed. 

"  I  feel  compelled  to  say,  however,  that  until  you  have  the 
means  of  executing  this  resolution  to  tolerate  but  a  single  relig- 
ion, you  ought  not  to  declare  yourself.  If  your  predecessors 
went  on  a  crusade  to  Constantinople,  it  was  because  the  king- 
dom was  at  peace.  Had  they  been  situated  as  you  are,  they 
would  have  done  as  you  do.  You  see  what  the  King  of  Spain 
has  done  to  his  subjects  in  Netherlands,  to  whom  he  has  granted 
the  exercise  of  their  religion  in  Zealand,  Friesland,  and  Hol- 
land. It  would  be  no  novel  thing  for  you  to  permit  the  exer- 
cise of  the  '  religion '  in  places  where  you  cannot  prevent  it. 
Foreign  princes,  and  even  the  Pope,  will  rejoice  at  learning  this 


"  Qui  du  commencement  u'y  vouloit  pas  mordre." 


156  THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.        Cn.  IL 


declaration,  and  will  be  glad  that  matters  have  been  settled 
without  a  resort  to  arms.  As  to  myself,  I  do  not  wish  to  gain 
credit  among  the  Catholics  for  having  destroyed  this  kingdom. 
I  have  no  object  but  to  preserve  it.  In  its  destruction  the  de- 
struction of  religion  also  is  involved.  On  the  contrary,  if  this 
kingdom  be  preserved,  religion  will  also  be  preserved. 

"  We  have  scant  means  for  carrying  on  war  ;  we  have  scarcely 
the  means  of  subsistence.  Tlie  Prince  of  Conde  will  take  the 
cities  and  all  the  open  country.  Hitherto  nothing  has  been  able 
to  resist  him.  So  far  as  I  am  concerned,  because  of  the  inter- 
est I  have  in  them,  I  crave  not  to  see  the  state  nor  the  person 
of  the  king  thus  endangered.  There  may  be  others  who  care 
nothing  for  the  loss  of  this  commonwealth,  provided  they  can 
ssLj,  'I  have  faithfully  maintained  the  Catholic  i-eligion,'  or 
who  hope  to  profit  by  its  overthrow.  I  have  nothing  to  say 
about  them;  but,  for  myself,  I  do  not  desire  to  resemble  them. 
I  advise  you,  therefore,  to  preserve  your  kingdom  and  your  own 
person  also ;  hoping  that  God  may  so  favor  you  as  that  some 
day  you  may  succeed  in  uniting  the  two  religions  in  one."  ' 

Such  was  the  speech  of  Catharine  de'  Medici,  as  it  has  been 
handed  down  to  us  by  one  who  seems  to  have  wi'itten  it  down 
afterward  from  memory.  Insincere  and  unprincipled  as  was  the 
woman  that  made  it,  false  to  her  own  conscience  and  to  her  God 
as  was  the  tongue  that  uttered  such  professions  of  piety  and  de- 
votion, while  the  hands  were  yet  gory  with  the  blood  of  ten  thou- 
sands of  murdered  innocents,  the  address  itself  illustrates,  better 
than  any  words  of  comment  could  illustrate,  the  singular  charac- 
ter of  that  vacillating  princess,  with  whose  ambition  and  with 
whose  fears  the  fates  of  the  Huguenots  were  so  closely  linked. 

Henry's  speech  was  more  brief,  but  clearly  revealed  that  his 
mind  was  fully  made  up.  "  Gentlemen,"  said  he,  everybody 
Henry  de-  sceu  how  zealouslv  I  embraced  what  was  for 

cha^i'of  God's  honor,  and  how  ardently-  I  desired  to  see  but 
purpose.  Qj^g  religion  in  my  kingdom.  I  have  even  sued,  if  so 
I  must  speak,  for  the  support  of  the  members  of  the  three  es- 
tates, who  were  but  lukewarm,  urging  them  to  ask  for  a  single 


Journal  de  Nevers.  Memoires,  i.  175,  176. 


1577. 


THE  STATES  GENERAL  OF  BLOIS. 


157 


religion,  in  the  belief  that  they  would  aid  nie  in  carrying  out 
so  holy  a  resolution.  But  the  sight  of  the  slender  means  they 
have  given  nie  has  enlightened  me  as  to  the  little  hope  there  is 
that  I  shall  be  able  to  execute  my  first  intention.  However, 
as  Monsieur  de  JSTevers  says,  one  may  change  one's  opinions 
when  there  is  occasion.  For  myself,  I  do  not  think  I  fail  in 
my  duty  if  I  do  not  now  declare  that  I  will  suffer  only  one  re- 
ligion in  my  realm,  since  I  have  not  the  means  to  execute  such 
a  declaration.  I  desire  my  intention  to  be  known,  so  that  it 
may  not  be  misrepresented  outside  of  the  council.  I  regard  my- 
self as  more  attached  than  anyone  else  to  my  religion  ;  though 
there  are  those  who,  in  order  to  be  called  pillars  of  the  church, 
say  everything  that  comes  into  their  heads.  It  is  my  will,  there- 
fore, that  this  article  of  religion  be  left  till  after  the  conclusion 
of  all  the  rest." 

Delay  under  the  circumstances  was  equivalent  to  defeat. 
The  council  bi'oke  up.  Catharine  de'  Medici  did  not  disguise 
her  satisfaction.  She  went  out,  making  light  of  the  discom- 
catharine's  fitui'G  of  the  belligerent  party,  and  exclaiming  to  poor 
raillery.  Isevers,  wdtli  her  accustomed  raillery  :  "  How  so, 
cousin,  did  you  want  to  send  us  to  Constantinople  ? "  A  jest 
that  she  laughingly  repeated  to  all  whom  she  met.' 

The  time  for  the  "  crusade "  had  not  come,  and  certainly 
neither  Catharine  de'  Medici  nor  Henry  of  Valois  was  exactly 
another  Saint  Louis.  None  the  less,  however,  had  the  French 
court  a  war  upon  its  hands  that  must  drag  its  slow  length  along 
for  the  coming  six  months,  and  could  not  be  dismissed  with 
as  little  ceremony  as  tlie  now  hateful  states  general  of  Blois. 
Meantime,  both  the  queen-mother  and  king  were  disposed  not 
to  forego  their  wonted  delights.  Henry  had  secured  from 
The  Italian  Italy  a  couipauy  of  comedians,  known  as  "I  Gelosi," 
comedians,  j^jgj^  uusurpasscd  for  skill  in  lewd  song  and  play, 
actors  whose  indecencies  had  even  incurred  the  reprehension 
of  the  Parliament  of  Paris."    He  prided  himself  upon  the  ac- 


'  "Comment,  mon  cousin,  vous  nous  vouliez  envoyer  a  Constantinople?" 
Journal  de  Nevers,  Memoires,  i.  177. 
'  Memoires  de  Henry  III.,  23. 


158 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.        Cn.  II. 


quisition,  we  are  informed,  as  much  as  upon  the  conquest  of  a 
new  kingdom,  and  Catharine  was  ahnost  equally  delighted. 
So  when  Cardinal  Bourbon  tried  to  induce  the  king  to  forbid 
the  performances  during  Lent,  the  queen  mother  requested  the 
prelate  to  forbear  any  further  attempts  to  persuade  his  majesty 
to  renew  "  his  devotions  of  Avignon  where  he  never  left  the 
Jesuits  for  a  single  moment."  ' 

The  short  conflict  to  which  the  designation  of  the  sixth 
civil  or  religious  war  has  been  given  presents  fewer  incidents  of 
The  sixth  ^^oto  than  any  of  the  preceding  contests  in  which  the 
civil  war.  Hugucuots  wcrc  forccd  to  engage.  Of  the  two  great 
armies  set  on  foot  for  their  destruction,  the  eastern  descended 
iq)on  the  city  of  La  Charite,  and  aimed  to  cut  off  all  possible  com- 
munication between  the  Protestants  and  their  former  allies  be- 
yond the  Rhine.  The  western  army  was  intended  to  overwhelm 
Poitou  and  Saintonge,  and  to  wrest  La  Rochelle  itself  from 
the  hands  of  those  who  tightly  held  it  as  their  best  place  of 
refuge  on  the  coasts  of  the  ocean.  The  command  of  the  east- 
ern army  was  confided  to  the  Duke  of  Anjou,  as  nominal  leader. 
For  the  young  prince  had  now  obtained,  as  the  seal  of  recon- 
ciliation with  his  mother  and  his  brother,  the  coveted  rank  and 
title  of  lieutenant-general  of  the  kingdom.  Under  him  served 
tlie  Dukes  of  Guise,  Aumale,  and  Nevers,  with  Biron  in  charge 
of  the  artillery,  making  up  by  their  own  military  skill  and  ex- 
perience for  Anjou's  incompetence.  The  fruits  of  the  cam- 
paign were  seen  in  the  important  captures  of  La  Charite  on 
the  Loire,  and  of  Issoire  and  Ambert,  in  Auvergne.  Nor 
was  the  Duke  of  Mayenne,  younger  brother  of  Guise,  less  fort- 
unate in  the  conduct  of  the  western  forces.  Brouage,  next  to 
La  Rochelle  itself  the  most  important  maritime  post  of  the 
Huguenots,  and  the  lie  d'Oleron,  were  the  rewards  of  his  well- 
directed  assaults  and  superior  numbers.  Everywhere  the  Prot- 
estants lost  ground.  Henry  of  Navarre  accomplished  little  or 
nothing ;  his  adventurous  dash  upon  Marmande  turned  out 
disastrously.  So  uniform  was  the  ill-success  attending  the 
efforts  of  the  Huguenots,  that  they  long  remembered  and  dis- 


'  Joiirnal  de  Nevers,  Memoires,  i.  173. 


1577. 


THE  SIXTH  CIVIL  WAR. 


159 


tinguished  this  as  "  the  year  of  evil  tidings  " — "  Tannee  des 
mauvaises  nouvelles."  ' 

Much  of  this  ill-success  was  indeed  the  natural  result  of  their 
own  faults.  Dissension  and  division  were  rife  in  their  ranks. 
The  old  discipline  had  of  late  suffered  a  grievous  decline.  The 
Huguenot  ill-  Hugueuot  soldicrs,  to  use  Agrippa  d'Aubigne's  ex- 
lacTJf  disci-  pressive  words,  from  "  reformed  "  had  become  "  de- 
phne.  formed."  '■'  In  the  King  of  Navarre's  court  there 
were  open  quarrels  between  Henry's  Roman  Catholic  follow- 
ers and  his  stanch  Huguenot  followers,  and  the  latter  were 
not  a  little  disgusted,  and  in  part  alienated,  as  they  noticed 
that  the  Bearnese  was  more  anxious  to  make  sure  of  the  Roman 
Catholics,  by  the  display  of  extraordinary  favor,  than  to  satisfy 
the  just  expectations  of  the  Protestant  noblemen  who  espoused 
his  cause  from  affection.' 

The  most  sensible  loss  sustained  by  the  Huguenots  was  the 
withdrawal  of  Marshal  Damville,  who  not  long  after  his  brave 
answer  to  the  States  of  Blois  renounced  the  alliance  which  for 
more  than  two  years  had  subsisted  between  the  Protestants  of 
Languedoc  and  himself. 

The  disputes  that  led  to  this  unhappy  result  would  scarcely 
deserve  special  mention  did  they  not  obtain  importance  as  bring- 
ing into  prominence  certain  tendencies  of  the  period  and  of 
the  Huguenot  party. 

In  its  early  stages,  the  Reformation  had  been  accused  of 
aiming  at  the  subversion  of  the  constituted  order  of  govern- 
ment. A  change  of  religion,  said  the  Romish  prel- 
mation  and  ates,  necessarily  involves  mutation  in  the  state, 
deraocraoj.  pj-g^j^^jg  Yust  had  bceu  taught  this  as  an  axiomatic 
truth.  Somewhat  later,  it  was  maintained,  with  more  precision 
of  calunmy,  that  the  Huguenots,  full  of  admiration  for  Swiss 
institutions,  would  be  content  with  nothing  short  of  substitut- 


'  Lestoile,  i.  87. — On  the  campaign  in  the  east,  see  Recueil  des  choses  me- 
morables,  593 ;  De  Thou,  v.  370-373  ;  Claude  Haton,  ii.  889-894  ;  Agrippa 
d'Aubigne,  ii.  281-283.  On  the  western  operations,  see  Recueil,  593-596  ;  De 
Thou,v.  382-391,  etc. 

•  Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  ii.  273. 
Ibid.,  ii.  284,  285. 


160  THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.        Cu.  IL 


ing  for  the  existing  monarchical  system  an  association  of  cantons 
modelled  on  the  pattern  of  Berne  and  Zurich.  Xo  valid  proof 
was  brought  to  substantiate  the  charge,  nor  is  there  any  reason 
to  believe  that  the  thought  of  revolution  was  ever  entertained. 
Yet,  while  the  loyalty  of  the  French  Protestants  must  be  re- 
garded as  having  been  above  just  suspicion,  it  is  equally  certain 
that  the  religious  doctrines  they  had  espoused  were  adapted  to 
awaken  in  the  breast  of  the  people  the  consciousness  of  innate 
and  indefeasible  rights.  This  consciousness  was  sure,  ulti- 
mately, to  overthrow  the  entire  fabric  of  despotism,  both  in 
state  and  in  church,  involving  in  the  general  destruction  the 
prescriptive  claims  of  the  privileged  classes  and  much-prized 
exemptions  from  burdens  of  taxation  and  service.  The  Refor- 
mation knew  not  that  it  was  laying  the  foundations  of  democ- 
racy, and  would  have  resented  the  imputation  as  slanderous  ; 
none  the  less  did  the  Heformation  lead  inevitably  to  a  recog- 
nition of  the  natural  claim  of  the  humblest  citizen  to  the  equal 
protection  of  the  law,  and  to  a  share  in  the  government  of  the 
state.  So  far  it  was  true  that  the  Eeformation  tended  of  ne- 
cessity to  the  development  of  democratical  institutions. 

There  was  another  equally  unmistakable  tendency  in  the  age 
— the  tendency  toward  the  revival  of  feudalism  in  France,  to 
which  allusion  had  already  been  made.    If  the  un- 

Contrastwith  .  .       .  <•     i       -r-»    f  •  ^  ^ 

revived  fea-  conscious  aspirations  01  the  Keiormation  could  meet 
their  fulfilment  only  in  the  political  freedom  and 
equality  of  the  nineteenth  century,  the  re-establishment  of  great 
feudal  lords,  with  their  inferior  and  dependent  barons,  in  every 
part  of  the  country,  recalled  the  ideas  of  the  Middle  Ages,  and 
aggravated  the  oppressive  yoke  resting  upon  the  neck  of  the 
people.  Manifestly  the  Eeformation  and  feudalism  were  natu- 
ral enemies,  and  must,  sooner  or  later,  come  into  collision. 
Marshal  Damville  had,  indeed,  become  a  confederate  of  the 
Protestants  of  the  South,  but  the  alliance  was  the  fruit  of 
political  exigencies,  and  was  too  abnormal  to  last.  The  gov- 
ernor of  Languedoc,  little  less  than  a  king  in  his  extensive  prov- 
ince, could  no  more  look  with  complacency  upon  the  reformed 
churches,  with  their  popular  organization  and  well-graduated 
representative  government,  than  the  consistories  and  synods, 


1577. 


THE  SIXTH  CIVIL  WAR. 


161 


provincial  and  national,  of  the  Huguenots  could  heartily  sub- 
mit to  the  control  of  the  dissolute  and  arbitrary  Montmo- 
rency. 

Misunderstandings  and  suspicions  arose  from  the  very  first. 
Damville  was  an  undisguised  Koraan  Catholic,  and  made  no  pre- 
tence of  sympathy  with  the  religious  views  of  his  allies, 
standing  be-  He  did,  indeed,  affect  much  interest  in  the  relief  by  the 
viiie  and  the  ticrs  ctat,  and  proclaimed  himself  the  "  liberator  of 
the  commonwealth ; "  but  he  never  forgot  that  he 
was  descended  from  the  "  first  Christian  baron,"  or  overlooked 
the  wide  gulf  separating  a  nobleman  of  his  rank  from  the 
plebeian  inhabitants  of  the  Huguenot  towns  and  villages  of 
Languedoc.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Huguenots  felt  by  no 
means  sure  that  the  marshal's  high  birth  could  make  him  a 
judicious  governor,  or  that  a  man  noted  for  his  lavisliness  of 
his  own  property  would  administer  the  common  funds  with 
strict  integrity  and  in  the  most  economical  way.  They  insisted, 
therefore,  that  he  should  do  nothing  without  consulting  a  coun- 
cil which  they  themselves  had  given  him,  and  they  kept  strict 
watch  over  the  treasury.  As  time  advanced,  the  mutual  dis- 
trust grew.  It  was  currently  reported  among  the  Protestants 
that  the  marshal,  anxious  to  enter  again  into  the  king's  good 
graces,  had  lately  sent  his  wife  to  court,  and  had  easily  obtained 
forgiveness,  on  the  condition  of  breaking  away  from  his  allies 
and  turning  his  arms  against  them.  At  first,  however,  few 
thought  that  Damville  would  carry  his  new  plans  into  execution 
without  giving  formal  notice  of  his  intentions  to  his  late  asso- 
ciates.' 

It  is  not  unlikely  that  the  Huguenots  of  Languedoc,  and  their 
brethren  in  other  parts  of  France,  wei-e  inclined  to  be  too  sus- 
picious. Perhaps,  however,  an  impartial  observer  will  pardon 
them  if,  after  the  Parisian  matins  and  some  kindred  su]-prises, 
a  childlike  trust  in  Roman  Catholic  allies  was  not  a  leading 
feature  in  their  character.  Be  this  as  it  may,  it  was  not  many 
days  after  Marshal  Damville  had  despatched  his  trusty  messen- 
ger to  the  king  with  a  noble  plea  in  favor  of  toleration  '  before 


'  Mtmoires  de  Jacques  Caches,  239. 
Vol.  I.— 11 


2  Ante,  p.  147. 


162  THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OP  NAVARRE.        Cu.  EL 


he  received  the  unwelcome  intelligence  that  the  Huguenot  in- 
habitants of  Montpellier  had  risen,  one  Sunday  night,  the  seven- 
surprise  of  teeutli  of  February,  had  made  themselves  masters  of 
^nd"'''otiie^  the  city,  and  had  elected  young  Frangois  de  Chatil- 
piaces.  •jQjj  governor  of  the  city  and  district.'  The  town  of 
Lunel,  with  its  neighbors,  Aimargues  and  Marsilargues,  Aigues- 
mortes  and  Alais,  followed  the  example  of  Montpellier.  What 
rendered  the  act  more  vexatious  was  that  the  marshal's  wife  was 
at  Montpellier,  and  his  children  had  been  left  at  Alais,  so  that 
his  whole  family  appeared  to  have  been  made  prisoners.  Ten 
days  later,  a  political  assembly  of  the  Huguenots  of  lower  Lan- 
guedoc,  meeting  at  Lunel,  approved  the  coup-de-main, 
against  Dam-  and  ffave  the  reasons  of  it  in  thirty  formidable  arti- 

viUe. 

cles.  The  sum  was  that  the  provisions  of  the  com- 
pact of  union  had  been  disregarded,  the  decisions  of  the  coun- 
cil reversed  or  nullified,  and  the  finances  grossly  mismanaged. 
Protestants  had  been  neglected,  and  Roman  Catholics  placed  in 
oflSce.  The  marshal  had  held  communications  with  Rome  and 
Savoy  which  he  had  not  made  known  to  the  Protestants.  He 
had  retained  traitors  in  his  employ,  had  shown  too  little  dis- 
pleasure at  the  invitations  of  the  king  and  the  states  general, 
and  too  much  sluggishness  in  making  his  preparations  for  a  war 
seen  to  be  imminent,  as  though  he  had  no  intention  to  oppose 
the  suppression  of  Protestantism  resolved  upon  at  Blois.  To 
close  the  list  of  Damville's  iniquities,  he  was  held  responsible 
for  the  imprudent  or  insolent  reply  of  certain  Roman  Catholics 
of  the  "  union,"  when  deliberating  on  the  answer  to  be  returned 
to  the  deputies  from  Blois.  "  We  are  all  in  the  same  boat,"  * 
said  the  Protestant  deputies.  "  Not  so  !  "  answered  their  Roman 
Catholic  allies.    "  It  is  only  '  those  of  the  religion '  that  the  king 


'  Francois  de  Coligny,  Sieur  de  ChAtillon,  was  born  April  28,  1557,  and  was 
therefore  at  this  time  hut  twenty  years  of  age.  See  the  transcript  of  the  en- 
tries of  the  births  of  the  various  members  of  the  family  (two  generations)  in 
the  "  livre  d'heures"  of  tlie  Princess  of  Orange,  made  by  her  fatlier,  Admiral 
Coligny,  and  her  grandmother,  Louise  de  Montmorency.  Bulletin  de  la  Soci- 
ete  de  I'histoire  du  Protestantisme  fran(jais,  ii.  5-7.  See,  also,  Count  Jules 
Delaborde's  biography,  "Francois  de  Chastillon"  (Paris,  1886). 

'  "  Que  nous  estions  tous  embarquez  dans  ung  mesme  navire." 


1577. 


THE  SIXTH  CIVIL  WAR. 


163 


and  states  mean  to  attack." '  The  Lunel  assembly  dictated  the 
only  conditions  upon  which  the  "  union  "  could  be  continued. 
There  must  be  a  council  at  Montpellier  or  Nismes,  and  the  mar- 
shal must  obey  its  decisions.  The  council  alone  must  give  com- 
missions and  pay  out  money.  The  cities  must  all  have  Protes- 
tant governors,  and  the  Protestant  cities  must  have  Protestant 
consuls  in  addition. 

It  must  be  confessed  that  the  Huguenot  demands  were  great, 
and  that  some  of  the  complaints  appeared  at  first  sight  weak 
The  marshal's  OY  fi'ivolous.  The  marshal's  answer  made  the  most 
reply.  q£  tliese  advantages.  He  accused  his  late  allies  of 
ingratitude,  and  maintained  that,  but  for  his  timely  aid,  their 
cause  would  have  been  desperate.  He  dwelt  with  great  effect 
iipon  the  proofs  he  had  given  of  confidence  in  their  devotion 
to  him,  and  made  a  frank  and  plausible  reply  to  each  successive 
article  of  the  indictment.  Having  disposed  of  the  charges  as 
best  he  might,  it  was  now  the  marshal's  turn  to  comment  upon 
what  he  termed  the  insufferable  insolence  displayed  by  the 
allies,  not  only  in  rising  for  such  insuflBcient  reasons  and  taking 
his  wife  and  children  prisoners,  but  in  demanding  the  establish- 
ment of  a  council  with  sovereign  powers.  "  In  a  word,"  said 
Damville,  "  they  intend  to  assume  the  chair  of  state,  and  will 
issue  their  commands  to  the  gentlemen,  captains  and  soldiers, 
for  the  maintenance  of  their  authority  — a  procedure  tending 
to  a  republic  rather  than  to  any  other  form  of  government."  " 
It  was  not  the  only  time  that  the  proud  son  of  the  constable 
indulged  in  a  fling  at  the  assuming  burghers.  But  his  supreme 
indignation  was  reserved  for  the  head  of  "  a  little  syndic"  who 
had  been  so  presumptuous  as  to  call  upon  the  marshal  to  take 
an  oath  to  observe  the  Protestant  articles  at  his  hands. 
"  Everybody  knows,"  said  Damville,  "  that,  excepting  the  king, 
there  is  no  one  in  France  that  can  administer  the  oath  to  me." 


'  "  N'en  vouloient  qu'a  ceux  de  la  Religion." 

-  "Somme  ilz  seront  dans  une  cliaize  et  commanderont  les  gentilzhommes, 
cappitaines  et  soldats  pour  le  soustien  de  leur  auctorite,  tendant  plustost  a  la 
republicque  qu'a  autre  domination."  te  discours  faict  par  Mr.  le  Mareclial 
de  Damville  sur  la  rupture  de  I'union  en  I'aii  77  respondant  a  tous  le.s  articles 
de  ceulx  de  la  religion.    French  Nat.  Libr. ,  MSS.  Brienne.    (Loutcliitzky,  85.) 


164 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.        Cn.  II. 


Clearly  a  partnership  in  wliieh  the  persons  interested  enter- 
tained such  contlicting  notions  of  their  respective  positions  and 
rio-hts  must  be  dissolved  straightway.    And  this, 

Navarre  at-  o  o  J  ' 

tempts  to    however  much  Henry  of  Isavarre  and  other  cool 

mediate.  _ 

heads  might  deplore  the  result.  For  the  Eearnais 
was  both  surprised  and  pained — so  he  sent  word  to  the  Hugue- 
nots of  Languedoc — at  the  discord  that  had  sprung  up  in  that 
part  of  France  which  had  hitherto  been  a  pattern  of  union  and 
the  chief  strength  of  the  Protestant  cause.  Suspicion  might 
well  be  directed  against  enemies,  but  ought  not  to  be  encour- 
aged in  the  case  of  friends  like  Damville,  whose  course  had  been 
so  honorable  that  he  dared  pledge  his  own  integrity  for  him. 
And  he  begged  the  Huguenots,  in  God's  name  and  for  the 
general  good,  not  utterly  to  alienate  their  late  ally,  and  thus 
play  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  who  now  rejoiced  as  though 
seeing  signs  of  the  coming  overthrow  of  the  Protestant  side.' 

Meantime  the  Huguenots  of  Languedoc,  having  broken  with 
Marshal  Damville,  turned  their  eyes  toward  his  younger  brother, 
Thorebe-  Guillauuie  de  Montmorency,  better  known  by  his 
nT'^LeaderTii  territorial  designation  as  Seigneur  de  There.  The 
Languedoc.  dioice  was  a  judicious  one,  suggested  or  approved  by 
La  Noue  and  Turenne,  whom  the  King  of  Navarre  had  sent  in 
liaste  to  prevent  Languedoc  from  falling  into  the  power  of  the 
enemy.  Thus  did  France  behold  the  strange  spectacle  of  two 
brothers  at  the  head  of  armies  and  disputing  with  each  other 
the  possession  of  the  most  important  province  of  the  south — of 
another  Roman  Catholic  of  a  most  ancient  family  styling  him- 


'  The  defection  of  Marshal  Damville  is  briefly  referred  to  by  the  historians 
of  the  period,  e.y.,  Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  ii.  273,  etc.,  but  much  the  most  satis- 
factory view  of  it  can  be  obtained  from  the  important  original  documents  in 
the  National  Library  of  France,  and  published  by  Professor  Loutchitzky  in  his 
documents  inedits  pour  servir  a  I'histoire  de  la  Reforme  et  de  la  Ligue  (Paris, 
1875),  pages  60-'Jl.  These  consist  of  (1)  the  reasons  set  forth  by  the  Assembly 
of  Lunel,  February'  27,  for  breaking  the  union  with  Marshal  Damville  and 
seizing  the  cities  ;  (2)  the  articles  to  be  presented  to  him  as  conditions  for  re- 
newing the  union,  adopted  by  the  assembly  on  the  same  date  ;  (3)  Marshal 
Damville's  answer,  February  ;  and  (4)  Henry  of  Navarre's  instructions  to  the 
Seigneur  de  Segur  sent  to  the  Protestants  of  Languedoc,  dated  at  Aiguillon, 
May  25,  1577. 


1577. 


THE  EDICT  OF  POITIERS. 


165 


self  "  general  commandant  for  the  protection  and  defence  of 
his  Majesty's  subjects  making  profession  of  the  Reformed  relig- 
ion in  the  land  and  government  of  Languedoc,  under  the  au- 
thority of  the  King  of  Xavarre  and  Monseigneur  the  Prince  of 
Conde."  '  As  for  brave  Chatillon,  whom  his  youth  alone  pre- 
cluded from  receiving  an  appointment  which  might  have  seemed 
more  appropriate  for  him  than  for  his  cousin,  the  rescue  of 
Montpellier  from  the  overwhelming  forces  of  Marshal  Belle- 
garde  constituted  for  him  a  new  title  of  distinction.  Ills  ex- 
ploit in  breaking  through  the  enemy's  lines  and  returning  within 
little  more  than  a  fortnight  with  a  relief  of  five  thousand  men 
was  the  concluding  event  of  the  war.'' 

The  struggle  in  which,  since  his  disappointment  in  obtaining 
funds  for  carrying  it  on,  Henry  had  lost  all  interest,  was  termi- 
nated, after  the  usual  delays  and  diplomatic  intrigues,  by  the 
sixth  edict  of  pacification,  known  as  the  Edict  of  Poitiers,  in  the 
month  of  September,  1577. 

In  this  document  the  liberal  concessions  made  by  the  preced- 
ing Edict  of  Beaulieu  were  much  curtailed.  The  Protestants 
The  EfHct  of  ^cre  Suffered  to  dwell  unmolested  in  every  part  of 
toi'ibe^ls??)  t^^^  kingdom,  but  the  public  exercise  of  their  woi-ship 
condudes^the  ^g^g  restricted  to  certain  places.  First,  all  noblemen 
possessed  of  the  right  of  "haute  justice"  were  per- 
mitted to  have  Protestant  worship,  for  themselves  and  for  all 
that  chose  to  attend,  in  such  place  as  they  might  designate  as 
their  chief  residence.  Second,  the  same  noblemen  could  have 
worship  open  to  all  comers  upon  any  of  their  other  lands,  but 
only  so  long  as  they  themselves  were  present.    Third,  noblemen 


'  Thore  takes  this  designation  (in  addition  to  his  customary  titles  of  privy 
counsellor,  etc.)  in  a  very  interesting  commission  issued  by  him  at  Nismes, 
July  7,  1577,  appointing  a  captain  to  raise  troops  for  the  purpose  of  checking 
the  bands  of  ruffians  that  were  laying  waste  the  Protestant  towns  and  villages 
of  the  Cevennes.  The  document  is  published  in  tlie  Bulletin  de  la  Societe  de 
rhistoire  du  Protestantisme  franqais,  vii.  (1859)  398,  399. 

A  glowing  account  in  Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  ii.  311-313.  The  historian  claims 
for  himself  that,  having  been  sent  to  sound  the  disposition  of  Damville,  al- 
tliough  too  late  to  prevent  tlie  marshal's  defection,  he  was  in  time  to  prevent 
him  from  carrying  over  with  him  to  the  royal  side  any  Protestant  cities  as 
helps  to  a  reconciliation  with  his  former  foes.    Ibid.,  ii.  267-273. 


166  THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.        Ch.  II, 


of  lower  jurisdiction  were  allowed  worship  at  their  residences 
for  themselves  and  theu*  families  only.  Fourth,  the  Protestants 
were  authorized  to  continue  the  exercise  of  their  religion  in  all 
cities  and  horoughs  where  it  had  been  publicly  practised  at  the 
date  of  the  signature  of  the  edict.  Fifth,  Protestant  worship 
was  granted  in  the  suburbs  of  some  one  town  or  village  in  each 
bailiwick  and  senecliaussee  of  the  kingdom.  So  much  for  the 
most  essential  matter  of  the  celebration  of  the  rites  of  religion. 
Paris  was,  of  course,  excepted,  with  its  neighborhood  to  the  dis- 
tance of  ten  leagues  in  every  direction.  So,  too,  the  court  of 
the  king  must  not  be  polluted  by  the  preaching  of  Protestant 
doctrine,  by  whatever  else  it  might  be  polluted.  Here  the  limit 
was  fixed  at  two  leagues  only.  The  provision  for  the  protec- 
tion of  the  Protestants  in  the  courts  of  law  was  also  narrowed 
down.  Instead  of  a  "  chambre  mi-partie,"  composed  of  an  equal 
number  of  judges  of  the  two  religions,  and  established  in  each 
of  the  eight  parliaments,  there  were  to  be  only  four  mixed  tri- 
bunals (there  were  to  be  no  mixed  tribunals  in  Paris,  Rouen, 
Dijon,  and  Rennes),  and,  instead  of  one-half,  two-thirds  of  the 
judges  were  to  be  Roman  Catholics.'  On  the  other  hand,  Prot- 
estants were  guaranteed  admission  into  the  universities  and 
schools,  and  their  poor  and  sick  were  promised  assistance,  on 
the  same  terms  as  Roman  Catholics.  As  in  the  preceding 
pacification,  eight  cities  were  intrusted  to  the  Protestants  as 
pledges  for  their  safety.  The  King  of  Xavarre,  the  Prince  of 
Conde,  and  twenty  Protestant  gentlemen  were  to  swear,  singly 


'  Michelet  is,  therefore,  quite  wrong  in  saying  (La  Ligue  et  Henri  TV.,  p.  85) 
that  there  was  to  be  "  a  chaqiie  parlement  une  chambre  protestante."  The 
courts  established  for  the  protection  of  the  Protestants  in  the  four  parliaments 
named  in  the  text  were  not  to  be  composed  of  Protestants  (see  article  21) ;  and 
Agrippa  d'Aubigne  is  correct  in  his  brief  statement  (ii.  337)  :  "  Les  chambres 
mi-parties  biffees  pour  Paris,  Rouen,  Dijon,  et  Rennes.  Aux  autres  quatre 
parlements  des  chambres  ordonnees  avec  un  des  presidents  reforme  et  le  tiers 
des  conseillers  de  mesme."  Von  Poleuz  well  remarks  (iv.  12G,  note)  the  dif- 
ficulty and  ungrateful  character  of  the  task  of  describing  the  edicts  of  pacifi- 
cation ;  as  well  as  the  difficulty  arising  from  the  vagueness  and  positive  errors 
of  the  statements  even  of  contemporaries.  The  circumstance  that  the  edicts 
were  never  fairly  carried  out  makes  them  a  very  unsatisfactory  topic  of  discus- 
sion. 


1577. 


THE  EDICT  OP  POITIERS. 


167 


and  collectively,  to  restore  these  cities  to  the  king  at  the  expi- 
ration of  six  years  from  the  date  of  the  edict.'  A  secret  treaty 
signed  at  Bei'gerac  treated  of  the  marriage  of  priests  and  monks, 
of  marriage  within  the  prohibited  degrees  of  consanguinity, 
and  of  other  matters  which  it  was  thought  prudent  not  to  bring 
prominently  to  the  public  notice." 

France  was  sick  of  war.  Everywhere  there  were  rejoicings. 
Conde  and  the  Kochellois  were  not  more  delighted  than  were 
the  Parisians  and  the  Roman  Catholics,  who  had  feared  that  the 
Protestants  might  be  still  better  treated  in  the  edict.'  The  King 
of  France  and  the  King  of  Navarre  each  styled  the  document 
"  his  own  edict."  *  The  poor  people  said  little  or  nothing  that 
contemporary  chroniclers  have  thought  it  worth  while  to  trans- 
mit to  posterity,  but  doubtless  thanked  God  devoutedly  for  a 
little  rest  from  bloodshed  and  rapine.  Even  the  priests  were 
glad  that  the  war  was  over.  One  of  their  number  could  not 
suppress  the  observation  that,  seeing  the  terms  of  the  edict  of 
pacification  were  so  similar  to  those  of  its  predecessor,  it  would 
have  been  far  better  not  to  renew  the  war.^  As  to  the  League, 
the  king  thought  that  he  had  very  cleverly  given  it  a  death-blow 
by  enacting  in  the  fifty-sixth  article  of  his  edict  that  "  all  leagues, 
associations,  and  confraternities  made  or  to  be  made,  on  any 
pretext  whatsoever,  to  the  prejudice  of  the  present  edict,  be  an- 
nulled," and  by  strictly  forbidding  the  enrolling  of  men  and  the 
levy  of  money.  It  remained  to  see  how  much  vitality  the  pro- 
scribed institution  might  still  possess. 


'  Six  of  the  eight  cities  were  the  same  as  in  tlie  former  list,  but  Montpellier 
was  substituted  for  Beaucaire,  and  La  Reolle  for  Issoire,  Art.  59.  Text  in 
Du  Mont,  Corps  diplomatique,  v.  302-308  ;  Memoires  de  Nevers,  i.  290-307  ; 
Isambert,  Recueil  des  anciennes  lois  francjaises,  xiv.  330,  etc. 

'■'  Du  Mont,  Corps  diplomatique,  v.  308,  311 ;  Isambert.  Haag,  etc. 

'  Saraciui  to  the  grand  duke,  October  4, 1577,  Negociations  avec  la  Toscane, 
iv.  131. 

*  See,  as  to  Henry  III. ,  Recueil  des  choses  memorables,  596,  and  De  Thou, 
V.  393  ;  as  to  Henry  of  Navarre,  Agrippa  d'Aubigue,  ii.  328. 
'  Memoires  de  Claude  Haton,  ii.  900. 


16S  THE  HUGUEXOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRR       Ch.  HI. 


CHAPTEE  III. 

THE  CONFERENCE  OF  N£RAC,  AND  THE  SEVENTH  CR^EL  WAR. 

Conclusions  based  upon  abstract  justice  and  deductions  from 
expediency  are  wont  to  differ  widely  from  each  other.  Wise 
men  cannot  always  come  to  an  agreement  in  deciding  the  knotty 
question  whether  it  be  not  often  advisable,  in  war  as  in  matters 
of  law,  to  accept  much  less  than  one  is  entitled  to,  rather  than, 
by  obstinately  insisting  upon  the  concession  of  one's  full  rights, 
run  the  risk  of  losing  everything.  In  the  present  instance, 
some  of  the  Huguenots,  with  Theodore  Beza  in  the  number, 
significantly  pointed  to  the  absurdity  of  making  a  distinction  of 
places  and  permitting  the  Protestants  to  meet  for  worship  in 
one  spot  while  excluding  them  from  another,  as  though  God 
ought  not  equally  to  be  adored  in  every  part  of  the  kingdom.' 
But  others,  perhaps  not  less  zealous  but  possibl}^  more  practical 
in  their  views,  maintained  that  the  Peace  of  Bergerac  was  as 
favorable  a  compact  as  could  be  hoped  for  in  the  circumstances. 
Contrast  be-  "^^^^  cdict  of  pacification  did,  indeed,  restrict  materially 
tween  the     ^[^q  toleratiou  extended  by  the  famous  "  Edict  of 

Peace  of  Ber-  •/ 

Edirtof  jin^  January,"  1562,  and  by  the  more  recent  Peace  of 
uary.  Mousieur.    The  "  Edict  of  January "  excluded  the 

Huguenot  religious  assemblies  from  the  walled  cities,  but  sanc- 
tioned them  everywhere  else.  The  Peace  of  Monsieur,  appar- 
ently more  lavish  in  its  concessions,  granted  the  Protestants 
permission  to  hold  their  services  wherever  they  pleased,  with 
the  single  exception  of  the  capital  and  its  suburbs  to  a  distance 
of  two  leagues,  and  required  only  the  consent  of  the  feudal  lord 
within  whose  territorial  jurisdiction  the  place  of  meeting  might 


'De  F61ice,  History  of  the  Protestants  of  France,  Amer.  ed.,  p.  235. 


1577. 


THE  CONFERENCE  OP  NERAC. 


1G9 


fall.'  But,  in  the  tumult  of  excited  passion  surging  through 
France,  neither  stipulation  had  been  executed.  It  was  clear  to 
every  eye  that,  for  the  present,  neither  could  be  honestly  car- 
ried into  effect.  When  men  were  engaged  in  a  desperate 
struggle,  with  passions  inflamed  by  the  strife,  the  excesses,  and 
the  calunniies  of  the  past  fifteen  years,  it  was  futile  to  think  of 
settling  the  mutual  relations  of  the  professors  of  the  two  creeds 
upon  a  permanent  basis.  By  and  by,  with  the  return  of  calm- 
ness and  reason,  this  might  be  done.  For  the  moment  it  was 
enough  if  some  temporary  adjustment  of  differences  might  be 
effected,  some  "  modus  vivendi "  settled  upon,  to  serve  as  a 
bridge  to  span  the  chasm  between  the  existing  confusion  and 
the  stable  ground  of  a  true  and  abiding  peace. 

Whether  the  treaty  just  made  would  answer  the  purpose, 
remained  to  be  seen.  But  whatever  the  result  might  be,  cer- 
tain it  was,  that  it  offered  a  better  prospect  than  any  of  its 
predecessors.  It  did  not,  indeed,  recognize  the  right  of  Protes- 
tantism to  universal  tolei'ation ;  but  this  very  circumstance, 
while  disappointing  the  just  claims  of  the  Huguenots,  disarmed, 
in  some  measure,  the  malice  of  their  most  inveterate  enemies. 
The  situation  Whatever  might  be  said  of  the  Peace  of  Monsieur,  it 
accepted.  could  uot  bc  asscrtcd  by  the  priests  that  the  Peace 
of  Bergerac  countenanced  the  spread  of  the  Reformed  faith 
through  the  whole  of  France.  The  royal  edict  merely  accepted 
the  situation  of  affairs  as  it  was.  It  admitted  the  existence  of  a 
second  form  of  Christianity  without  endorsing  it.  Protestant- 
ism might  be  an  evil  the  prevalence  of  which  was  to  be  greatly 
deplored  ;  but  Protestantism,  as  a  form  of  faith  and  as  a  power 
in  the  state,  could  not  be  ignored.  If  the  masses  of  the  peo- 
ple could  be  disabused  of  their  prejudices,  if  they  could  be  set 
well  on  the  way  to  learn  the  lesson  that  a  diversity  of  religious 
tenets  need  not  necessarily  tend  to  discord  and  confusion,  thei-e 
might  be  some  hope  that  the  new  pacification  might  either  be 


'  If  I  mistake  not,  this  last  provision  more  than  countervailed  the  superior 
advantages  held  forth  in  the  later  arrangement.  It  was  better  to  he  put  to  the 
inconvenience  of  going  outside  of  the  city  walls,  than  to  be  left  to  the  mere/ 
of  a  capricious  or  unfriendly  nobleman.  The  Huguenots  had  good  reason 
to  still  regard  the  "  Edict  of  January  "as  the  great  charter  of  their  rights. 


170 


THE  HUGXJENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.       Cn.  IIL 


of  lasting  duration  or  give  place  only  to  some  more  perfect  and 
equitable  reconciliation.  Unfortunately  this  was  the  darkest 
point  in  the  horizon.  The  people  could  not  unlearn  in  an 
hour  the  pestilent  lessons  sedulously  taught  them  these  many 
years,  and  there  were  those  who  had  no  thought  of  permitting 
the  process,  had  the  people  been  ever  so  ready  to  enter  upon 
it.    The  same  accusations  that  had  been  sown  broadcast  from 

the  pulpits  and  confessionals,  and  by  means  of  the 
notscaiumni-  printed  handbill  and  placard,  in  the  hour  of  the  birth 

of  the  Reformation,  were  still  disseminated  among 
those  credulous  enough  to  believe  them.  The  Huguenot  name 
was  still  a  bugbear  held  up  to  frighten  not  only  children,  but 
full-grown  men  and  women.  It  was  boldly  maintained  that  the 
new  heretics  were  enemies  of  the  human  race.  If  they  did  not 
worship  the  devil  and  eat  little  children  at  their  nocturnal  orgies, 
as  had  been  reported  twenty  years  earlier,  in  the  time  of  the 
affair  of  the  Rue  Saint  Jacques,  they  were  imdoubtedly,  said 
their  enemies,  the  willing  agents  in  the  spread  of  the  plague. 
In  the  course  of  the  very  year  of  the  Peace  of  Bergerac,  there 
appeared  at  Lyons  a  pamphlet  purporting  to  give  a  truthful  ac- 
count of  the  scourge  that  had  just  visited  that  city.  The  au- 
thor was  an  envenomed  enemy  of  Protestantism,  Claude  de 
Rubys,  a  man  who  played  an  important  part  in  bringing  about 
the  provincial  massacre  following  the  Parisian  matins.'  The 
story  he  told  bears  a  singular  resemblance  to  the  unfortunate 
incident  rendered  famous  by  the  most  fascinating  of  Italian 
novelists,  in  his  historical  record  of  the  origin  of  the  "  Colonna 
Infame  "  of  Milan.  The  Huguenots,  not  unlike  the  victims 
They  are  popular  uialice  and  ignorance  at  Milan,  Avere  rep- 

B^^hig^the  I'esented  by  Rubys  as  spreading  the  contagion  by 
plague.  means  of  "  certain  infected  pastes  "  which  they  had 
imported  from  Italy  concealed  in  packages  of  silk.  Xor  was 
this  the  first  offence  of  the  kind,  if  we  credit  the  accuser  ;  for 


1  "  Discours  sur  la  contagion  de  peste  qui  a  este  ceste  presente  annee  en  la 
ville  de  Lyon.  ...  A  Lj'on,  1577."  Cimber  et  Danjou,  Archives  cu- 
rieuses,  ix.  237-262.  The  passage  referred  to  in  the  text  is  on  pages  257-259. 
Respecting  Rubys,  see  the  Rise  of  the  Huguenots,  ii.  504,  514. 


1577. 


THE  CONFERENCE  OF  NERAC. 


171 


the  same  accursed  sect  had  introduced  the  plague  in  similar 
nauseous  drugs  thirteen  years  before  (156i),  when  they  wished 
to  prevent  the  erection  of  a  citadel  at  Lyons,  and,  therefore,  to 
destroy  the  Roman  Catholics.  Only,  in  the  last-mentioned  in- 
stance, the  poison  had  come  from  Basle  hidden  in  bales  of 
other  merchandise,  and  it  had  been  carried  into  the  very  houses 
in  which  King  Charles  the  Xinth  and  the  lords  of  his  court 
were  lodging.  It  was  well  for  the  Huguenots  that  they  lived 
under  more  enlightened  forms  of  law,  and  that  French  juris- 
prudence did  not,  like  the  statutes  of  Milan,  tolerate  the  appli- 
cation of  torture  at  the  mere  caprice  of  the  most  petty  judge, 
with  the  view  of  extracting  the  truth  from  a  witness  whenever 
his  first  answers  did  not  appear  altogether  probable.  Other- 
wise, it  is  to  be  feai'ed  that  history  would  be  compelled  on  this 
page  to  record  the  name  of  many  a  Huguenot  victim,  torn  with 
pincers,  maimed  of  a  hand,  with  arms  and  legs  broken,  and  left 
to  languish  full  six  hours  upon  the  wheel  before  so-called  "jus- 
tice "  would  suffer  the  executioner  mercifully  to  cut  the  wretch- 
ed man's  throat ;  as  history  is  compelled  to  record  the  names  of 
a  Mora,  a  Piazza,  a  Migliavacca,  and  other  unfortunates  who 
suffered  such  barbarities  at  the  time  of  the  great  plague  that 
raged  in  Milan  in  the  sunnner  of  the  year  of  grace  1630.' 

The  Prince  of  Conde  had  so  warmly  welcomed  the  peace 
that  he  had  ordered  the  announcement  of  it  to  be  made  in  his 
camp  by  torchlight  the  very  evening  on  which  the  tidings  reached 
him.  But  the  words  of  the  proclamation  had  no  magical 
effect  to  qiiiet  inflamed  passions  or  compel  obedience.  In 
defiance  to  the  royal  edict.  Marshal  Biron  laid  violent  hands 
The  eace  "P*^^^  ViUoneuve  d'Ageuois  and  upon  Agen  itself, 
only  partial-  the  virtual  Capital  of  Henry  of  Navarre.  In  Langue- 
doc  Marshal  Damville  treated  with  supreme  disdain 
the  provisions  relative  to  the  return  of  the  fugitives.  The 
Huguenots  of  Beziers,  Carcassonne,  Castelnaudary,  and  other 


'  AlessandroManzoni's  "Storia  della  Colonna  Infame  "  is  well  supplemented 
hy  Pietro  Verri's  "  Osservazioni  sulla  tortura,"  in  wliicli  (chapter  vii.)  there  is 
a  transcript  of  the  singular  inscription  on  the  column  erected  at  Milan  in  com- 
memoration of  tlie  punishment  of  tlie  supposed  culprits. 


172 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.      Ch.  III. 


cities,  finding  admission  denied  to  them,  took  the  field  perforce, 
and  kept  up  the  forms,  with  something  of  the  reality  of  war, 
in  a  time  of  nominal  peace.  It  was  a  novel  sight  to  see  two 
companies  of  about  four  hundred  men  each  living  off  the  dis- 
trict which  they  laid  under  contribution,  and  occasionally  taking 
prisoners  the  most  violent  of  their  enemies.  Still  more  singu- 
lar was  the  discipline  and  the  spirit  of  equality  that  reigned. 
Purchasing  a  full  quantity  of  cloth  with  the  proceeds  of  their 
plunder,  the  whole  troop  arrayed  itself  in  precisely  the  same 
dress,  with  a  gold  chain  about  the  neck  or  a  red  cord  on  the 
cap  for  the  sole  mark  to  distinguish  the  leaders.  All  ate  to- 
gether at  commons  in  the  spacious  market-houses,  where  the 
captain  and  the  minister  who  served  as  chaplain  sat  at  the  head 
of  the  long  and  rambling  tables,  and  two  lieutenants  sat  at 
the  foot.  The  rest  of  the  otficers  were  mingled  with  the  simple 
privates.  It  M'as  not  so  much  the  weak  fortifications  behind 
which  they  were  entrenched  as  the  report  of  their  courage  and 
the  rumor  that  they  stood  in  favor  with  Chatillon,  that  long 
secured  these  bands  of  Huguenot  soldiers  immunity  from 
hostile  assault.'  In  Dauphiny  the  state  of  confusion  was  not 
less  marked.  Here  Lesdiguicres  was  able  so  to  impress  upon 
the  mind  of  the  royal  governor  the  dangers  to  which  liis  co- 
i-eligionists  were  exposed  from  the  implacable  resentment  of 
their  enemies,  that  he  actually  obtained  from  him  an  arrange- 
ment allowing  the  Huguenots,  until  such  time  as  the  edict  of 
pacification  should  be  put  into  complete  execution,  to  retain 
possession  of  all  the  strongholds  they  had  in  Dauphiny,  and  to 
draw  upon  the  king  a  monthly  sum  of  two  thousand  crowns  for 
the  support  of  the  garrisons." 


'  "Tant  y  a,"  says  Agrippa  d'Aubigne  (ii.  333),  to  whom  we  are  indebted 
for  the  quaint  account,  "que  cette  petite  guerre  dura  autant  que  la  petite  paix 
que  nous  traittons  maintenant.  ' 

-  De  Thou,  V.  530-536.  The  compact  was  made  by  Laurent  de  Maugiron, 
who  had  just  obtained  tlie  post  of  governor  of  Dauphiny  (left  vacant  by  the 
death  of  M.  de  Gordes)  through  the  influence  of  his  son,  the  well-known  fa- 
vorite of  Henry  III.  It  was  very  displeasing  to  the  queen  mother,  and  no 
stone  was  left  unturned  to  induce  the  Protestants  of  Dauphiny  to  renounce 
the  advantages  it  conferred  upon  them^ 


1578. 


THE  CONFERENCE  OF  NERAC. 


173 


Meanwhile,  not  deterred  bj  the  troubled  state  of  a  great 
part  of  France,  the  Reformed  Church  convoked,  at  Sainte  Foy 
la  Grande,'  its  Ninth  National  Synod  (February,  1578).  It 
rrv,  XT-  .u     was  the  first  time  that  the  hio-hest  ecclesiastical  court 

The  Ninth  O 

Nationai  sy-  Qf  ^ijg  Huguenots  had  met  since  the  massacre  of 

nod.  Sain'.e  o 

Foy,  1578.  gfc^  Bartliolomcw's  Day.  For  nearly  six  years  the 
Protestants  of  France,  proscribed,  the  objects  alternately  of 
secret  conspiracy  and  assassination  or  of  the  most  sanguinary  of 
open  wars,  had  scarcely  enjoyed  a  moment's  respite  from  the 
assaults  of  their  enemies.  Self-preservation  had  engrossed 
their  thoughts  and  withdrawn  their  attention  from  the  con- 
sideration of  the  discipline  and  doctrine  of  the  church.  It  was 
now  time  that  they  should  devote  the  first  opportunity,  snatched 
from  the  pursuit  of  war,  to  the  pressing  claims  of  their  inter- 
nal organization  and  the  care  of  their  most  vital  interests. 

The  acts  of  deliberative  bodies,  however  important  in  their 
results,  rarely  afford  in  themselves  matters  of  interest  for  the 
general  reader.  But  there  are  some  points  in  the  transactions 
of  the  present  synod  that  are  too  characteristic  to  be  passed 
over  in  silence. 

Tlie  Huguenots,  faithful  subjects  of  the  crown  of  France  in 
all  civil  relations,  were  ever  loyal  to  a  republican  theory  of 
ecclesiastical  government  that  admitted  no  earthly  hierarchy, 
and  recognized  no  lordship  but  that  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  su- 
preme head  of  the  Church.  On  the  present  occasion  they  took 
pains  to  enunciate,  at  the  very  beginning  of  their  proceedings, 
the  principle  that  "  no  province  can  lay  claim  to  possess  any 
superiority  or  pre-eminence  over  the  rest,  either  in  general  or 
in  particular.^  As  an  intelligent  understanding  of  the  religion 
taught  by  the  Holy  Scriptures  is  the  indispensable  foundation 
of  Protestantism,  the  synod  insisted  much  upon  the  necessity  of 
a  suitable  education  of  the  3'oung.  It  was  made  the  special  duty 
of  each  province  to  search  out  every  method  proper  for  the  in- 
stitution of  schools  where  young  men  might  be  trained  to  serve 


'  Oil  the  river  Dordogne,  in  the  extreme  eastern  part  of  the  present  depart- 
ment of  Gironde. 

'■  Art.  1.    Aymou,  Tous  les  syiiodes,  i.  12G. 


174:  THE  HUGUENOTS  A>'D  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.       Cu.  III. 


the  church  some  day  in  the  exercise  of  the  functions  of  the 
holy  ministry.  Ministers  of  the  gospel  were  themselves  urged 
to  a  very  faithful  and  skilful  use  of  the  catechism  in  the  in- 
struction of  their  flocks.  And  parents  were  warned  against  the 
perilous  practice  of  sending  their  children  to  schools  under 
priestly  or  monkish  influence,  or  permitting  them  to  become 
pages  or  servants  in  the  families  of  great  lords  or  other  persons 
"  of  some  religion  opposed  to  our  religion."  ' 

The  synod  gave  its  attention  both  to  public  and  to  family 
worship,  and  endeavored  to  define  the  proper  relation  between 
the  two  methods  of  approaching  the  Almighty.  It  prescribed 
the  character  of  the  preaching  that  should  obtain  in  the  French 
Protestant  churches.  The  minister,  it  said,  ought  to  aim  at 
expounding  as  much  of  the  saci-ed  text  as  possible,  avoiding  dis- 
play and  long  digressions ;  he  should  not  cite  a  multitude  of 
passages,  heaping  one  quotation  upon  another,  nor  bring  for- 
ward a  number  of  different  interpretations ;  it  is  his  duty  to 
use  great  moderation  in  referring  to  the  ancient  Doctors  of  the 
Church,  and,  above  all,  to  profane  histories  and  other  works, 
"  in  order  to  leave  to  Scripture  all  its  authority." "  On  the 
other  hand,  that  it  might  not  detract  from  the  importance  of 
the  religion  of  the  home,  the  synod  distinctly  set  the  mark 
of  its  disapproval  upon  the  custom  of  holding  public  services 
for  daily  prayer  in  the  Protestant  churches.  The  churches  that 
had  adopted  the  practice  were  exhorted  to  conform  to  the  usage 
of  those  churclies  that  had  no  custom  of  the  kind.  In  taking 
this  action  the  Synod  of  Sainte  Foy  was  only  confirming  the 
decisions  of  the  National  Synod  of  Paris,  in  1565,  which  had 
discouraged  the  holding  of  services  in  church  upon  certain  other 
days  besides  those  on  which  there  was  preaching,  or  daily,  upon 
the  ground  that  the  custom  was  calculated  to  promote  super- 
stition and  to  create  contempt  of  the  preaching  of  God's  Word, 
and  tended  greatly  to  interfere  with  the  duty  incumbent  upon 
every  head  of  a  family  to  institute  daily  worship  for  the  mem- 
bers of  his  own  household.' 


I  Arts.  2,  7,  23.  -  Art.  7. 

'  Compare  Art.  11  of  the  Synod  of  Paris  and  Art.  12  of  the  Synod  of  Sainte 
Foy.    Aymon,  i.  65,  66,  128. 


1578. 


THE  CONFERENCE  OP  NERAC. 


175 


It  seems  to  have  been  in  view  of  the  recent  publication  of  the 
great  Protestant  epic  of  Du  Bartas  on  the  Wonderful  "Work  of 
Creation,'  that  the  synod,  fearful  lest  the  fashion  of  adapting 
the  language  and  figures  of  paganism  to  scriptural  events  should 
gain  the  ascendancy  in  the  literature  of  the  Ileforined  churches, 
recorded  its  desire  that  "  those  that  shall  hereafter  take  pen  in 
hand  to  write  the  stories  of  the  sacred  Scripture  in  verse  shall 
be  notified  not  to  mingle  therewith  poetical  fables,  nor  attribute 
to  God  the  names  of  false  divinities,  nor  add  anything  to  or 
take  anything  from  Scripture,  but  confine  themselves  to  the 
strict  terms  of  the  sacred  text." "  Among  the  less  important 
provisions  were  those  that  reiterated  the  importance  of  execut- 
ing the  church's  decrees  against  "  dissoluteness  "  in  dress,  and 
especially  in  the  wearing  of  the  hair,  and  forbade  a  minister  of 
the  Gospel  from  practising  the  art  of  medicine.^  The  experience 
of  conflicts  in  which  the  Protestants  had  been  forced  to  engage 
dictated  the  propriety  of  a  declaration  prohibiting  the  faithful, 
in  any  future  war,  from  separating  themselves  from  the  union 
of  the  churches,  and  agreeing  to  any  private  peace,  upon  pain 
of  ecclesiastical  censure.*  More  important  than  all  was  the 
lively  interest  testified  by  the  Synod  of  Sainte  Foy  in  the  proj- 
ects which,  under  the  zealous  patronage  of  that  old  and  tried 
friend  of  the  Huguenots,  Jean  Casiniir,  had  taken  shape,  in 
September,  1577,  in  a  conference  held  at  Frankfort  on  the 
Main,  for  the  pnrpose  of  devising,  in  company  with  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  other  lieforraed  churches  of  Christendom,  a 
plan  for  the  close  and  hearty  union  of  all  Protestantism,  and 
for  thus  silencing  the  calumnious  reports  to  which  the  divisions 
of  Protestantism  daily  gave  plausible  grounds.^ 

The  most  difficult  matter  upon  which  the  synod  was  called  to 


'  "  La  .Semaine,"of  Guillaume  de  Saluste,  Seigneur  du  Bartas,  first  appeared 
at  Paris,  in  1578,  and  ran  through  seventeen  editions  within  four  years.  In 
all  there  were  not  less  than  thirty  editions  published.  Haag,  France  protes- 
tante  (first  ed.),  ii.  131. 

'  Art.  20.  3  Arts.  21,  22.  "  Art.  26. 

'■•  "  Projet  de  reunion  entre  toutes  les  Eglises  Reformees  et  Protestantes  du 
Monde  Chretien,"  appended  to  the  Acts  of  the  Synod  of  Sainte  Foy,  Aymon, 
i.  131-133. 


176 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.      Cu.  III. 


act  was  an  appeal — apparently  the  first  appeal  brought  before  a 
national  synod  from  an  Inferior  ecclesiastical  court.  The  Prot- 
^  ^  ^  estant  vessels,  hovering  as  was  their  Avont  abont  the 
tween  cond^  sliores  of  the  Ba}'  of  Biscav,  had  succeeded  in  takino-  a 

and  the  Con-  ,  ^ 

sistory  of  La  prize  upon  the  high  seas,  and  had  brought  it  into  port. 

The  act  had  been  approved  by  the  Prince  of  Conde. 
The  Consistory  of  La  Rochelle  declared  the  seizure  unlawful,  as 
having  been  made  since  the  edict  of  pacification,  and  requested 
the  prince  not  to  approach  the  Lord's  Table.  They  maintained 
that  the  whole  church,  indeed  the  whole  city  of  La  Rochelle,  > 
was  suffering  in  consequence  of  this  violation  of  good  faith,  and 
was  denounced  as  a  refuge  of  pirates  and  brigands.  The  prince, 
on  the  contrary,  defended  himself  upon  the  plea  that  the  capt- 
ure had  been  made  before  the  expiration  of  the  forty  days  al- 
lowed for  the  publication  of  the  peace,  and  from  the  sworn 
enemies  of  the  King  of  Xavarre  and  himself.  Moreover,  he 
plainly  intimated  to  the  consistory  that  he  regarded  the  whole 
transaction  as  belonging  to  the  province  of  those  "  affairs  of 
state which,  for  some  mysterious  reason,  political  leaders  and 
kings  are  accustomed  to  ask  the  rest  of  the  world  to  believe  lie 
beyond  the  range  of  conscience  and  the  laws  of  ordinary  moral- 
ity. The  Synod  of  Sainte  Foy,  while  by  no  means  sharing  in 
this  remarkable  view  of  public  ethics,  and  while  distinctly  ap- 
proving the  zeal  of  the  church  and  Consistory  of  Eochelle  in 
its  courageous  opposition  to  scandalous  vice,  expressed  regret 
that,  in  a  matter  of  such  moment,  more  time  had  not  been  taken, 
with  the  view  of  rem.oving  all  suspicion  and  animosity.  At  the 
same  time,  it  begged  the  prince  to  take  in  good  part  the  remon- 
strance of  the  consistory,  dictated  by  justice  and  necessity,  and 
founded  upon  the  "Word  of  God,  to  remove  the  occasion  of  stum- 
bling, and  become  reconciled  to  the  church.  This  being  done, 
it  decreed  that  his  highness  be  received  to  partake  of  the  holy 
communion  with  his  brethren.' 

It  is  the  misfortune  of  the  historian  of  this  period  that  he  is 


'  For  this  entire  affair,  so  creditable  to  the  manly  courage  and  Christian  con- 
sistency and  candor  of  the  persons  that  took  part  in  it,  see  the  minute  of  Feb- 
ruary 14,  1578,  Aymon,  i.  133,  134. 


1578. 


THE  CONFERENCE  OF  NERAC. 


177 


SO  frequently  compelled  to  turn  aside  from  the  more  congenial 
task  of  chronicling  the  incidents  affecting  the  progress  of  the 
Huguenots,  either  in  their  interior  life  or  in  their  struggle  for 
the  acquisition  of  full  religious  liberty,  and  forced  to  touch  upon 
the  disgraceful  manners  and  morals  of  a  king  who,  in  the  ex- 
pressive words  of  a  bitter  contemporary  pamphleteer,  of  all  the 
inheritance  left  him  by  his  predecessors  had  retained  only  their 
vices.'  The  digression,  however  unwelcome,  is  extremely  im- 
portant ;  since  without  a  clear  understanding  of  the  recklessness 
and  extravagance  of  the  monarch,  and  the  consequent  burden  of 
crushing  taxes  and  hopeless  debt  imposed  upon  the  people,  it 
would  be  impossible  to  comprehend  the  circumstances  that  modi- 
fied, if  they  did  not  altogether  shape,  the  course  of  the  adher- 
ents of  the  Reformed  faith  in  France. 

Some  writers  have  represented  the  conclusion  of  the  peace  of 
1577  as  coincident  with  a  notable  change  in  the  character  of 

Henry  the  Third.  Doffing  in  an  instant  all  martial 
^f''ue^y%e  aspiratious  and  manly  enterprises,  this  prince,  we  are 

assured,  resigned  himself  henceforth  to  a  life  of  slug- 
gish ease,  with  an  evident  alacrity  which  some  interpreted  as 
arising  from  inordinate  love  of  pleasure,  while  others  ascribed 
its  origin  to  excessive  devotion.  Sudden  mutations  of  the 
kind  here  indicated,  however,  are  apt  to  be  more  apparent 
than  real.  The  phenomenon  is  generally  due  to  the  more 
favorable  opportunity  enjoyed  by  tlie  observer  for  obtaining  a 
correct  estimate  of  the  true  state  of  the  case,  or  to  the  new 
freedom  of  the  person  observed  in  displaying  those  tendencies 
of  his  nature  which  fear  or  policy  has  led  him  until  now  to 
conceal.  In  Henry  the  adage  was  fully  verified,  that  no  one 
ever  becomes  a  villain  at  a  single  stroke.  The  prince,  yoimg 
though  he  was,  who,  five  years  before,  had  been  a  principal 
conspirator  in  devising  and  executing  the  cowardly  assassi- 
nation of  Admiral  Coligny,  and  had  both  instigated  and  profited 
by  the  subsequent  massacre  and  pillage,  was  no  novice  in  crime. 


'  "  Remonstrance  a  tons  bons  Chrestiens  et  fideles  Catholiques  a  maintenir  la 
saincte  Union  .  .  .  contre  les  efforts  du  tyran,"  etc.  Memoires  de  la  Ligue, 
iii.  553. 

Vol.  I.— 12 


ITS  THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HEXRY  OF  NAVARRE.      Cn.  HI. 


The  period  intervening  between  his  departure  for  Poland  and 
the  conehision  of  the  sixth  civil  war  was,  indeed,  a  time  of 
political  commotion  and  of  extreme  anxiety  to  every  patriotic 
soul.  But  it  witnessed  in  Henry  the  gradual  but  sure  descent 
to  stUl  lower  depths  of  moral  corruption,  and  was  the  natu- 
ral precursor  of  a  state  of  shameless  vice  that  astonished  and 
repelled  an  age  of  unparalleled  depravity.  It  was  that  he 
might  give  loose  reins  to  his  passions  that  Henry  had  longed 
for  peace,  that  he  was  determined  to  have  it  at  any  cost.  And 
the  moment  that  the  edict  of  peace  was  signed  and  registered  by 
his  parliaments,  he  plunged  into  excesses  such  as  the  world  had 
not  dreamed  of  his  being  capable  of  committing.  Now  it  was 
that  the  government  of  France  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  per- 
sonal favorites  of  the  king.  The  road  to  distinction  was  found 
no  longer  to  run  through  the  battlefield  or  the  honest  and  skil- 
ful administration  of  public  trusts.  The  brave  and  successful 
general  and  the  statesman  of  wisdom  and  tried  integrity  were 
thrust  aside,  to  give  place  for  the  cunning  ministers  of  the 
monarch's  pleasures.  To  have  invented  a  new  form  of  diver- 
sion, to  know  a  pastime  that  aroused  the  king's  curiosity,  to  be 
able  to  recollect  or  invent  at  will  the  tales  of  amorous  intrigue 
and  court  scandal  that  constituted  Henry's  choicest  table-talk — 
these  were  sure  passports  to  favor.  By  the  side  of  the  fortunate 
The  new  fa-  posscssors  of  tliese  rare  accomplishments,  even  the 
thl^'oid  feo^  representatives  of  the  oldest  and  most  powerful  fam- 
dai  lords.  jj^gg  Qf  feudal  France  stood  at  the  greatest  disad- 
vantage. The  new  favorite  was  secure  in  the  consciousness  of 
a  hold  upon  the  king  which  no  mere  scion  of  an  illustrious  stock 
could  dispute.  Here,  indeed,  was  a  danger  threatening  the 
peace  of  France  more  serious  than  any  perils  that  might  come 
from  abroad.  Henry  brought  himself  into  direct  opposition  to 
a  tendency  of  the  times  that  had  assumed  portentous  dimen- 
sions. The  new  feudalism,  since  the  beginning  of  the  century, 
had,  as  we  have  seen,  been  entrenching  itself  in  the  great 
provincial  governments.  It  was  with  extreme  jealousy  that  the 
great  nobles  beheld  the  rise  of  new  aspirants  to  honor  and  to 
the  confidence  of  the  sovereign,  and  they  could  not  but  band 
together  to  resist  the  counsels  and  influence  of  men  whom  they 


1578. 


THE  CONFERENCE  OF  NERAC. 


179 


regarded  as  upstarts  and  usurpers.  But  when  it  came  to  dis- 
tributing among  the  king's  "  mignons "  the  government  of 
provinces  regarded  by  the  present  holders  as  hereditary  posses- 
sions, the  old  nobles  rose  in  rebellion  against  so  flagrant  an 
outrage  upon  all  right  and  decency.  They  could  be  dislodged, 
it  was  evident,  only  after  a  prolonged  and  desperate  struggle. 
The  king's  attempt  to  weaken  the  exorbitant  influence  of  the 
old  nobility  by  robbing  it  of  its  immense  territorial  privileges, 
and  to  substitute  for  the  representatives  of  the  Montmorencies 
and  other  ancient  families  young  noblemen  of  a  comparatively 
obscure  lineage,  has  been  interpreted  as  a  sagacious  stroke  of 
policy  intended  to  exalt  the  monarchy  by  freeing  it  of  its 
present  entanglements.  If  the  view  be  correct,  it  must  be  ad- 
mitted that  the  brilliancy  of  the  conception  is  all  that  entitles 
the  plan  to  respect.  Assuredly  in  the  execution  it  resembles  a 
senseless  blunder.  Without  adding  to  the  number  of  his  friends 
and  supporters,  Henry  ai-oused  the  hostility  of  a  large  and 
powerful  class,  not  less  formidable  than  the  Huguenots  of  whom 
he  had  long  been  confessedly  an  implacable  enemy. 

Meanwhile,  distrust  and  violence  characterized  the  royal  court. 
The  king's  inordinate  gifts  and  extravagant  favors,  instead  of 
contenting,  only  excited  the  cupidity  and  stimulated  the  envy 
of  those  who  wished  to  engross  for  themselves  the  fruits  of 
Henry's  reckless  prodigality.  In  every  direction  reigned  jeal- 
ousy and  dissension.  Henry  discovered  that  not  even  the  semi- 
regal  appanage  he  had  conferred  upon  his  younger  brother  was 
sufficient  to  establish  fraternal  sentiments  between  them.  The 
old  sore  of  deadly  hatred  broke  out  afresh  in  February,  1578, 
when  the  Duke  of  Anjou  again  fled  from  the  vicinity  of  the 
court,  alleging  the  insecurity  of  his  person  from  the  malice  of 
his  royal  brother.  In  imitation  of  the  king  and  the  duke,  the 
favorites  had  their  own  quarrels,  which  they-  settled  by  open 
combat  or  by  secret  assassination.  When  an  unlucky  wound 
received  in  a  duel  or  in  the  street  laid  the  king's  minion  upon 
a  bed  of  sickness,  Henry  did  not  fail  to  show  his  extreme  friend- 
ship by  waiting  upon  the  sufferer,  and  performing  the  common 
offices  of  friendship,  with  little  regard  for  his  own  dignity  or 
the  claims  of  his  station.    When  one  of  the  favorites  died  the 


180 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.      Ch.  IIL 


corpse  became  the  recipient  of  such,  costly  honors  as  were 
customary  only  in  the  case  of  kings,  or  princes  of  the  roval 
blood.' 

Upon  the  unworthy  objects  of  the  king's  favor  the  treasm-e 
of  France  was  lavished  "without  stint,  but  no  treasure  could  ever 
^  ^  have  satisfied  Henry's  desire  to  enrich  them,  or  their 

prodigality  of  owu  thirst  for  wealth.    The  shrewd  coixnsellors  of 

the  court.  .  .,  ii'i- 

his  majesty  might  rack  their  brams  to  discover  new 
taxes,  the  collectors  of  the  royal  revenues  might  exercise  their 
ingenuity  in  devising  methods  to  exact  more  money  from  the 
poor  peasantry,  the  queen  mother  might  use  her  influence  with 
old  creditors  to  secure  an  extension  of  the  time  of  theii"  loans  * 
— all  might  look  about  for  fresh  financial  aid  from  credulous 
bankers.  Everybody  was  at  his  wits'  end  to  replenish  a  treas- 
ury that  was  in  so  leaky  a  condition  that,  no  matter  what  was 
poured  in,  there  was  never  any  reserve  on  hand.  Prodigality 
and  penury  walked  hand  in  hand.  To  celebrate  the  Duke  of 
Anjou's  capture  of  La  Charite,  in  the  course  of  the  recent  war, 
the  king  gave  a  grand  banquet  in  his  honor  at  Plessis-les-Tours, 
at  which  all  the  ladies  in  attendance  were  dressed  in  green  silk, 
a  material  so  scarce  as  to  cost  the  sum,  enormous  for  the  times, 
of  sLxty  thousand  francs.  Xot  to  be  outdone,  the  queen  mother 
followed  with  a  still  more  exquisite  and  luxurious  festival  in 
her  castle  of  Chenonceaux,  at  an  expense  of  one  hundred  thou- 
sand livres.'  But  the  monev  was  all  raised  by  borrowing  from 
the  king's  most  affluent  subjects,  and  especially  from  the  Ital- 
ians, of  whom  it  is  significantly  stated  that  they  knew  well  how 
to  reimburse  themselves  twice  over. 


'  De  Thou,  V.  539-544.  See,  also,  Lestoile,  i.  98,  99,  for  Henry's  absurd 
manifestations  of  sorrow  at  tlie  death  of  Maugiron,  Queylus,  and  Saiut-Megrin. 

-  So  Catharine,  in  1576,  begged  the  ambassador  Saracini  to  ■write  to  the 
Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany,  requesting  him  by  no  means  to  insist  upon  the  repay- 
ment of  the  sum  of  45,000  crowns  which  he  had  advanced.  Yet  in  the  very 
letter  in  which  Saracini  complies  with  the  request  he  estimates  the  yearly  in- 
come of  the  Duke  of  Aujou  at  860,000  francs.  Letter  of  August  14,  1576, 
Negociations  avec  la  Toscane,  iv.  79. 

'  "  En  ce  beau  banquet  les  plus  belles  et  honnestes  de  la  cour,  estans  a 
moitie  nues,  et  ayans  leurs  cheveux  espars  comme  espousees,  fureut  employees 
a  faire  le  service."    Memoires  de  Henri  III.  (Cologne,  1693),  21. 


i5Ta 


THE  CONFERENCE  OF  NERAC. 


181 


The  resources  o£  ecclesiastical  patronage  placed  at  the  king's 
disposal  by  the  Concordat  were  exhausted.  Benefices  had  been 
sold,  or  given  away  as  a  recompense  for  real  or  pretended  ser- 
vices, and  without  the  slightest  reference  to  the  religious  inter- 
ests of  the  people,  until  the  greater  part  were  held  by  women 
and  married  gentlemen.  The  abuse,  indeed,  had  gone  to  such 
a  length  that  not  infrequently  the  revenues  of  these  cliurchly 
endowments  were  conferred,  in  consequence  of  the  efforts  of 
parents,  upon  their  infant  offspring  yet  unborn.' 

There  was  no  way  to  raise  money  but  by  recourse  to  the  pro- 
vincial states  and  to  the  clergy.  But  the  provincial  states,  in- 
stead of  augmenting  the  contributions,  loudly  pro- 

The  provin-  ,  .'^        ,Ti  i         i  •  i 

cial  states  tested  agaiust  the  burdens  ah-eady  resting  on  the 
poor  people's  neck.  The  Guises,  greatly  displeased 
at  the  superior  favor  shown  by  the  king  to  his  minions,  had 
retired  in  disgust  from  Paris  to  their  home.^  They  now  took 
their  revenge  by  stirring  up  the  spirit  of  discontent,  and  thus, 
while  rendering  the  monarch  unpopular,  earned  the  reputation 
of  being  the  true  friends  of  the  oppressed.''  The  States  of 
Burgundy,  meeting  at  Dijon,  were  induced,  through  their  ex- 
ertions, to  send  deputies  to  court,  and  demand  the  reduction 
of  the  taxes  to  the  scale  of  the  good  old  times  of  Louis  the 
Twelfth.  The  demand  was  certainly  unreasonable,  since  it 
took  no  account  of  the  altered  state  of  affairs  in  Europe,  since 
the  great  influx  of  the  precious  metals  from  America,  and  the 
consequent  rise  of  the  price  of  all  commodities,  and  ignored 
the  great  increase  in  the  necessary  expenses  of  war  and  of  the 
civil  administration.  None  the  less  was  the  cry  a  very  popu- 
lar one.  It  came  also  from  the  deputies  of  the  States  of  Nor- 
mandy ;  and  here  it  was  accompanied  by  a  terrible  indictment 
of  the  cruel  system  under  which  the  wretched  victims  of  op- 


'  "  Jusques  axis,  enfans  aiisquels  lesdits  benefices  se  tronvoient  le  plus  sou- 
vent  afifectes,  estans  encores  en  la  raatrice  de  leurs  mores.  '    Lestoile,  i.  97. 
^  Ibid.,  i.  100. 

'  See  the  very  important  letter  of  Saracini,  July  7,  1578,  Negociations  avec 
la  Toscane,  iv.  175,  17(i.  "  Poi  che  con  questa  arte  e  invenzione  per  loro  si 
acfiuistano  la  benevolenza  de'  popoli,  e  Sua  Maesta  il  sollevamente  e  la  ribel- 
lione." 


182 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OP  NAVARRE.      Ch.  IH. 


pression  were  ground  into  the  very  dust.  The  representative 
of  tlie  three  orders  drew  a  vivid  picture  of  the  villagers,  bare- 
headed and  prostrate,  half  famished,  without  a  shirt  for  the 
back  or  shoes  on  the  feet,  looking  more  like  corpses  dragged 
from  their  graves  than  like  living  men,  and  in  their  desperation 
raising  their  hands  and  their  voices  to  ask  what  must  be  the 
term  of  patient  submission  to  the  intolerable  load.  "  flow 
long,"  said  they,  "  shall  the  licentious  soldier,  with  the  knowl- 
edge and  under  the  eyes  of  the  ofl&cers  of  justice,  after  having 
devoured  and  dissipated  our  entire  substance,  and  stolen  and 
carried  off  our  household  stuff,  insult  with  impunity  our  wives 
and  daughters,  and  maltreat  our  children  in  our  very  presence  ? 
How  long  shall  evil  counsel  persuade  the  king  that  he  can 
endlessly  and  beyond  all  bounds  levy  taxes  in  defiance  of  the 
privileges  and  laws  of  this  province,  and  without  asking  the 
consent  of  the  people  ?  How  long  slaall  flattery  have  such 
weight  as  to  give  him  to  understand  that  he  is  holden  to  no 
laws,  and  owes  no  respect  to  his  coronation  oath  or  to  compacts 
made  with  his  subjects,  against  the  law  of  nations  and  the 
constitutions  of  the  emperors  ?  Will  not  the  inventors  of 
edicts  pernicious  to  the  king's  estate  and  the  public  repose 
remember  that  God,  who  is  superior  to  kings,  can  hurl  them 
into  the  abyss,  as  He  knows  well  how,  when  it  pleases  Him, 
to  remove  kingdoms  and  monarchies  wherein  iniquity  abounds 
and  justice  is  buried  out  of  sight?  according  as  He  threatens 
in  Hosea,  chapter  twelfth,  '  Auferam  regem,  iuquit,  in  indig- 
natione  mea.' "  ' 

There  was  much  sober  sense  in  these  complaints  ;  there  were 
hints  of  possible  dangers  impending  over  the  monarchy  which 


'  The  sentences  translated  in  the  text  are  but  a  few  of  the  striking  passages 
occurring  in  Clerel's  address,  in  behalf  of  the  three  orders  of  Normandy,  to 
M.  de  Carouges.  The  address  is  appended  to  a  letter  purporting  to  give  to  a 
gentleman  of  Burgundy  a  detailed  account  of  the  proceedings  of  the  provincial 
estates  of  Normandy,  held  at  Rouen  in  November,  1578.  Cimber  et  Danjou, 
Archives  curieuses,  ix.  2G3-283.  Whether  from  modesty  or  from  fear,  Clerel 
resolutely  refused  to  accede  to  the  desire  of  his  fellow  deputies  that  he  should 
put  his  burning  words  upon  paper ;  so  that  the  reporter  was  forced  to  draw 
upon  his  memory. 


1578. 


THE  CONFERENCE  OF  NERAC. 


183 


Henry  would  do  well  to  heed.  But  in  his  anxiety  for  money — 
money  which  he  must  have  from  some  source  or  other  to  lav- 
ish upon  his  dogs  and  his  favorites — his  ears  were  deaf  to  the 
growing  murmurs  of  the  people ;  or  if  he  heard  them  at  all, 
it  was  some  consolation  to  him  to  know  that  his  former  boon 
The  Duke  of  compauiou — Henry  of  Guise — that  insidious  rival 
Guise's  debts,  ^^^^iq  was  HOW  bidding  so  high  for  popularity,  was 
even  more  hopelessly  embarrassed  than  his  majesty.  His 
debts  already  amounted  to  scarcely  less  than  a  million  livres, 
and  were  rapidly  increasing.  In  his  frantic  effort  to  diminish 
the  crushing  load,  he  had  lately  sold  to  a  frugal  German  soldier 
of  fortune  one  of  his  choicest  possessions.' 

As  if  to  aggravate  the  misery  of  the  kingdom,  the  Duke  of 
Anjou  had  assumed  the  support  of  the  Dutch  in  their  struggle 
against  Philip  the  Second,  arrogating  to  himself  the  high- 
sounding  title  of  "  Defender  of  the  Liberty  of  the  Nether- 
lands." ^  Now  it  was  a  characteristic  of  the  fortunes  of  this 
most  unlucky  of  princes,  that  he  never  by  any  chance  touched 
The  Duke  of  ^  tiling  but  he  spoiled  it,  or  drew  a  person  to  his 
Anjou.  party  without  involving  him  in  ruin.  Under  pre- 
tence of  levying  troops  to  serve  in  the  Low  Countries  under 
his  banner,  great  bands  of  "  vagabonds,  robbers,  and  mur- 
derers "  now  took  the  field  in  Champagne  and  pillaged  on  the 
right  and  on  the  left.  The  wretched  villagers  declared  that 
the  veiy  Turks  would  not  have  treated  them  worse.  "Were 
the  Duke  of  Anjou,"  wrote  one  of  the  witnesses  of  these  dis- 
orders, "  to  live  a  hundred  years,  he  would  never  have  so  many 
happy  days  as  he  has  had  curses  from  the  people  of  France, 
r  pray  God  that  he  may  not  reap  disaster  for  the  imprecations 
which  the  desperate  people  of  his  nation  have  uttered  against 
him  by  reason  of  the  evil  done  by  those  who  held  the  country 
under  his  authority."  ' 


'  Gaspard  de  Scliomberg,  whom  we  shall  meet  later  as  one  of  the  chief  ne- 
gotiators of  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  purchased  for  380,000  livres  the  duke's  earl- 
dom of  Nanteuil-le-Haudouin.    Lestoile,  under  date  of  September  15,  1578,  iu 

10:5. 

'  Motley,  Dutch  Republic,  iii.  344. 

3  Memoires  de  Claude  Haton,  ii.  937,  etc.,  9C1. 


184 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.      Cn.  HL 


About  this  time  an  incident  occurred  that  brings  into  strong 
relief  the  incongruities  resulting  unavoidably  from  the  absurd 
attempt  of  the  Roman  pontiff  to  occupy  at  the  same  moment 
Singular  com-  the  two  positions  of  head  of  the  papal  church  and 
Comtat  Ve-  temporal  prince  of  territories  acknowledging  his  juris- 
naissin.  dictioii.  With  the  return  of  peace  to  France  in  gen- 
eral, no  peace  had  come  to  the  Comtat  Yenaissin,  where  the 
reluctance  of  the  vice-legate  to  make  any  concessions  to  Prot- 
estants threatened  to  postpone  indefinitely  the  close  of  the  war. 
At  length,  however,  the  Protestants  and  the  Poman  Catholics, 
tired  of  the  endless  confusion,  came  to  a  parley  at  Xismes,  in 
November,  1578.  Thore  and  Fran9ois  de  Coligny  were  the 
representatives  of  the  Protestants,  while  Guillaume  de  Patris, 
the  vice-legate's  deputy,  and  the  Cardinal  of  Armagnac  appeared 
for  the  Roman  Catholics.  The  agreement  that  was  reached 
accorded  to  all  persons  complete  religious  liberty.  No  one  was 
to  be  molested  on  account  of  any  religious  views  he  might 
hold.  The  Protestants  were  guaranteed  the  enjoyment  of  all 
the  property,  offices,  or  dignities  of  which  they  had  been  de- 
prived. It  was  even  stipulated  that  the  inhabitants  of  Cabri- 
eres,  and  other  victims  of  the  murderous  attacks  which  had 
rendered  the  names  of  the  villages  on  the  banks  of  the  Durance 
famous  for  all  time,  should  be  regarded  as  included  in  the  treaty, 
and  permission  was  granted  them  to  prosecute  their  claims  for 
the  restitution  of  their  goods  before  referees  appointed  by  both 
parties  to  arbitrate  between  them.  Provision  was  made  for  an 
equitable  sale  of  the  property  of  any  Protestants  that  might 
desire  to  emigrate,  while  those  who  preferred  to  remain  were 
expressly  exempted  from  the  jm-isdiction,  both  civil  and  crimi- 
nal, of  the  pope's  judges,  as  of  persons  of  doubtful  impartiality. 
Their  cases  of  law  were  to  be  tried  before  the  Chamber  of 
Nismes,  in  the  fij'st  instance,  and  by  the  "  Chambre  tri-partie  " 
of  Languedoc,  on  appeal,  the  judges  in  both  chambers  acting 
in  the  name  of  his  holiness,  and  not  in  that  of  the  King  of 
France.  But  the  most  remarkable  article  of  all  was  one  in 
which  it  was  conceded  that,  in  case  any  Protestant  should  be 
disturbed  in  the  enjoyment  of  his  property  situated  in  the 
Comtat,  he  might  apply  to  any  of  the  judges  of  the  French 


1578. 


THE  CONFERENCE  OF  NERAC. 


185 


king,  and,  upon  a  simple  requisition,  be  placed  in  possession  of 
whatever  lands  belonging  to  a  papal  subject  might  lie  within 
the  bounds  of  the  court's  jurisdiction."  Strange  as  it  may  seem, 
this  singular  compact  was  ratified  not  only  by  the  three  estates 
of  the  Comtat  and  by  Henry  the  Third,  but  even  by  the  pope 
himself.  For  Gregory  the  Thirteenth  published,  on  the  seventh 
of  February,  1579,  a  bull  expressly  approving  all  that  had  been 
done.  Thus  did  the  same  pontiff  that  had  exhibited  extrava- 
gant glee  at  the  news  of  the  wholesale  massacre  of  St.  Bartholo- 
mew's Day,  and  authorized  Vasari  to  paint  its  bloody  scenes  on 
the  walls  of  the  Vatican  palace,  with  a  record  of  the  explicit 
approval  of  the  pope,  the  same  pontiff  that  had  urged  Chai-les 
the  Ninth  to  pursue  his  pious  work  of  murder  even  to  the  de- 
struction of  the  last  Huguenot  in  the  realm,  now  suffer  the 
claims  of  expediency  to  outweigh  the  demands  of  a  consistent 
but  sanguinary  theory.  Such  were  the  results  of  the  attempt 
of  the  Bishop  of  Home  to  exercise,  at  one  and  the  same  time,  a 
universal  episcopate  and  a  secular  lordship.  The  pope,  acting 
as  the  pretended  vicegerent  of  God,  might  demand  of  the  kings 
of  the  earth  that  the}'  should  wage  unrelenting  warfare  against 
the  enemies  of  the  Almighty,  and  endeavor  to  frighten  them 
into  compliance  by  holding  up  the  punishment  incurred  by 
Saul  because  he  spared  the  Amalekites  as  a  fearful  warning 
against  disobedience.  But  the  pope,  acting  as  master  of  a 
petty  district,  was  careful  not  to  put  into  practice  the  lessons 


'  This  article  is,  however,  as  De  Thou  observes,  only  a  repetition  of  the 
forty-fourth  of  the  secret  articles  of  Bergerac  adopted  in  the  previous  year, 
wherein  the  King  of  France  promised  to  any  Protestants  of  the  Comtat  that 
might  be  hindered  in  the  enjoyment  of  their  property  within  that  district, 
"leur  pourvoir  sur  les  biens  que  les  autres  sujets  de  ladite  ville  d' Avignon  et 
Comtat  ont  es  terres  et  pais  de  son  obeissance,  par  lettres  de  marque  et  repre- 
saille,  lesquelles  seront  a  cette  fin  adressees  aux  juges  ausquels  de  droit  la  con- 
iioissauce  eu  appartient."  Du  Mont,  Corps  diplomatique,  v.  311.  It  is  inter- 
esting to  notice  that  this  singular  feature  in  French  jurisprudence  was  even 
perpetuated  in  the  Edict  of  Nantes  (1598).  The  fifty-first  of  the  secret  articles 
of  Nantes  directly  refers  to  and  confirms  the  forty-ninth  (forty-fourth)  secret 
article  of  1577,  and  merely  provides  that  no  "letters  of  marque"  shall  be 
issued  by  way  of  reprisal,  save  by  letters  patent  of  the  king,  sealed  with  his 
great  seal.  Text  in  Weiss,  Histoire  des  Refugics  Protestants  de  France,  pieces 
justificatives,  ii.  377,  and  Anquez,  Histoire  des  Assemblees  Politiques,  495. 


186 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.      Ch.  HI. 


he  had  given  to  others,  and  not  only  spared  the  lives  of  the 
"accursed  heretics,"  but  even  gave  guarantees  of  an  extraordi- 
nary kind  for  the  protection  of  their  property.  "What  would  a 
scoffing  world  say  respecting  papal  sincerity  on  discovering  that, 
besides  the  sufficiently  scandalous  articles  of  the  public  compact, 
there  was  a  secret  article  that  bound  the  burgesses  of  Roman 
Catholic  Avignon  to  pay  yearly  to  the  burgesses  of  Huguenot 
Orange  the  sum  of  six  thousand  crowns,  partly  as  a  compensa- 
tion for  the  injuries  the  latter  city  had  received,  partly  as  relief 
in  view  of  the  garrison  which  Orange  was  compelled  to  main- 
tain ' 

Meanwhile  the  unsettled  condition  of  Southern  France,  a  re- 
gion to  which  treaties  the  most  solemnly  drawn  up  seemed  im- 
potent to  restore  tranquillity,  called  for  new  efforts  of  diplomacy. 
These  Catharine  de'  Medici,  never  more  in  her  element  than 
when  engaged  in  a  conflict  of  cajolery  and  intrigue,  did  not 
hesitate  to  put  forth.  She  found  a  good  pretext  for  a  journey 
to  Guyenne  in  the  maternal  duty  of  conducting  Margaret  of 
Valois  to  her  husband,  from  whom  she  had  been  separated  ever 
since  Henry  made  his  memorable  escape  from  court.  Although 
it  may  well  be  believed  that  the  King  of  Xavarre,  to  whom  the 
morals  of  his  frail  spouse  were  no  secret,  had  little  disposition 
to  take  her  back,  the  possible  advantages  to  be  derived  from  a 
conference  were  too  obvious  to  permit  him  to  decline  the  meet- 
ing. Mother-in-law  and  son  now  saw  each  other  again,  after 
an  absence  of  more  than  three  years  (August,  1578).  Both 
came  well  prepared  for  the  encounter  of  shrewdness  and  wit. 
Henry  brought  his  good  native  sense,  Iiis  cheerful  and  light- 
hearted  disposition,  which  often  concealed  sober  truth  under 
the  guise  of  the  flippant  remark  or  scoffing  jest.  Catharine, 
in  addition  to  a  keen  intellect,  fertile  in  devices  to  suit  every 
emergency,  brought  with  her  that  galaxy  of  youthful  beauty 
which  she  was  accustomed  to  call  her  flying  squadron,  and 
upon  the  effectiveness  of  whose  charms  she  counted  scarcely 
less  than  upon  the  learning  and  persuasiveness  of  Pibrac  and 
other  clever  diplomatists  of  her  suite. 


'  De  Thou,  V.  544,  545. 


1578. 


THE  CONFERENCE  OF  NERAC. 


187 


Xext  to  the  conversion  of  Henry  of  Navarre  to  the  Roman 
Catholic  faitli,  the  queen  mother  had  nothing  more  at  heart 
than  to  induce  him  to  consent  to  the  restoration  of  the  cities 
Conference  ^^^^'^  ^7  Hugucuots  as  plcdgcs  beforc  the  expira- 
ofNcrac.  ^^[q^  tjjg  appointed  term.  She  was  as  likely  to 
fail  of  the  one  as  of  the  other  object.  Henry,  with  all  his 
profuse  expressions  of  willingness  to  receive  instruction,  cer- 
tainly had  no  intention  of  forsaking  Protestantism  again  until 
he  could  secure  some  greater  prize  than  Catharine  could  offer 
at  the  present  time.  As  to  the  cities  he  was  equally  deaf  to 
entreaty.  It  would  be  sheer  madness  to  give  up  the  only  secu- 
rities the  Huguenots  possessed  for  the  execution  of  the  treaty, 
when  the  frequent  and  persistent  violations  of  its  provisions 
demonstrated  how  little  their  late  enemies  were  inclined  to 
respect  their  own  promises  or  to  permit  the  king  to  keep  his. 
Catharine  and  her  nymphs  forgot  no  art  to  break  down  tlie 
resolution  of  the  outspoken  and  somewhat  obstinate  soldiers, 
who,  having  struck  and  borne  hard  blows  in  the  fight  to  win 
liberty  to  worship  God,  were  in  no  mood  to  throw  away  such 
advantages  as  they  might  possess  in  the  not  improbable  con- 
tingency of  a  new  war  forced  upon  them  by  treacherous  foes. 
Catharine  and  her  maids  of  honor  had  spent  hours  in  labori- 
ously training  their  tongues  to  counterfeit  the  biblical  phrase- 
ology in  which  they  supposed  these  religious  men  by  preference 
indulged — "  consistorial "  turns  of  expression,  as  the  queen 
mother  styled  them.  They  could  talk  glibly  of  "  the  counsel 
of  Gamaliel;"  they  could  exclaim  with  mock  fervor,  "How 
beautiful  are  tlie  feet  of  them  that  preach  the  gospel  of  peace !  " 
They  called  the  king  with  effusion,  "  the  Lord's  anointed,  the 
image  of  the  living  God ;  "  and  had  at  their  tongues'  end  vari- 
ous passages  from  St.  Peter's  epistles  in  favor  of  the  powers 
that  be.  Their  very  ejaculations  were  scriptural:  "The  Lord 
judge  betwixt  me  and  thee  !  "  "I  call  the  everlasting  God  to 
witness."  "  Before  God  and  His  angels."  It  was  all  very  well, 
only  the  pupils  were  too  eager  to  display  their  proficiency  in 
the  lessons  they  conned,  not  without  bursts  of  laughter,  every 
evening  in  Catharine's  bedchamber.  They  found  that  the 
"  language  of  Canaan,"  as  they  called  it,  imposed  upon  no  one  ; 


ISS 


THE  HUGXJENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.       Ch.  III. 


least  of  all  upon  men  who  read  more  of  the  Bible  every  day 
of  the  week  than  these  fine  ladies  had  read  in  their  entire 
lives. 

One  day  M.  de  Pibrac  was  brought  out  to  make  an  oration 
of  the  kind  wherewith  he  had  once  cheated  the  credulous  Poles. 
AVitli  consummate  art  he  strove  to  convince  the  Huguenots  of 
the  beauty  of  such  an  implicit  confidence  in  their  king  as  the  sur- 
render of  their  cities  of  refuge  would  evidence.  His  illustra- 
tions were  profuse,  drawn  from  Muscovy,  Turkey,  Persia,  and 
whatever  other  quarter  might  furnish  examples  of  subjects  that 
joyf nil}'  laid  down  their  lives  for  their  soverign.  It  was  grand  ; 
it  was  pathetic.  The  ladies  wiped  their  eyes,  and  Catharine 
dramatically  cried  :  "  Ah,  my  friends,  let  us  give  God  the  glory  ! 
Let  us  cause  the  rod  of  iron  to  fall  from  His  hands !  "  But 
when  she  turned  to  the  group  of  Huguenot  veterans  sitting 
calm  and  motionless  before  the  orator,  and  triumphantly  asked 
them,  "  What  can  you  say  in  reply?"  the  governor  of  Figeac, 
one  M.  La  Meausse,  iipon  whom  she  happened  to  rest  her  eyes, 
promptly  answered :  "  I  say,  madam,  that  the  gentleman  over 
there  has  conned  his  lessons  M-ell ;  but  to  pay  for  his  studies 
with  our  throats  is  a  thing  of  which  we  cannot  understand  the 
i-easonableness."  ' 

The  discussions  were  long  and  lively.  The  negotiation 
dragged  through  some  months.  When  it  threatened  to  become 
monotonous,  variety  was  occasionally  supplied  by  messengers 
announcing  some  new  act  of  treachery  or  of  retaliation.  One 
evening  a  month  or  two  after  Catharine's  arrival,  a  grand  ball 
was  given  in  her  honor  in  the  city  of  Audi.  Henry  of  Xavarre, 
Viscount  Turenne,  and  youna;  SuUv  were  among  the 

Henry  of  Xa-  mi      i  •       ,  ■  r    ^       r       ■    ■  ■ 

varre surpris-  daucers.    iliekmgs  enjovnient  or  the  festivities  was, 

CS  FlGlir£lllC6 

however,  somewhat  marred  by  a  friend  who  came 
and  whispered  in  his  ear  a  piece  of  news  just  received.  It  was 
to  the  effect  that  La  lieolle,  an  important  place  on  the  northeril 


'  "  Je  dis,  ma  dame,  que  monsieur  que  voila  a  bien  estudie  ;  mais  de  paier 
ses  estudes  de  uos  gorges  nous  n'en  pouvons  comprendre  la  raison."  Agrippa 
d'Aubigne,  ii.  337.  It  must  be  admitted  that  La  Meausse's  retort  well  deserved 
an  honorable  place  in  the  celebrated  chapter  of  the  "  Confession  catholique  du 
Sieur  de  Sancy,"  entitled  "  de  I'lmpudence  des  Huguenots." 


1579. 


THE  CONFERENX'E  OF  NERAC. 


189 


bank  of  the  Garonne,  and  one  of  the  cities  pledged  to  the  Prot- 
estants in  the  Edict  of  Poitiers,  had  been  betrayed  to  the  Ro- 
man Catholics  by  its  Huguenot  governor — an  absurd  old  man  who 
had  fallen  in  love  with  one  of  the  queen  mother's  maids.  Con- 
cealing his  vexation,  Henry  of  Xavarre  managed  to  withdraw 
from  the  crow'd,  and,  hastily  gathering  about  him  his  most 
trusty  companions,  took  horse  that  very  hour.  His  band  was 
not  large,  but  it  was  well  mounted,  and,  long  before  that  October 
night  was  past,  he  had  reached  and  taken  by  surprise  the  walled 
town  of  Fleurance,  or  Florence,  twelve  or  fourteen  miles  farther 
down  the  Gers.  The  only  loss  of  the  Huguenots  was  of  a  fa- 
vorite page  of  the  king.  The  next  morning,  Catharine  de'  Med- 
ici, who  had  not  missed  the  Huguenot  party,  was  nut  a  little  as- 
tonished to  hear  of  its  exploit.  "  Ah  !  "  she  said,  laughing  and 
shaking  her  head,  "  I  see  that  this  is  Navarre's  revenge  for  La 
ReoUe.  He  wished  to  pay  me  for  what  I  have  done,  but  I  have 
made  more  than  he  has  by  the  exchange " — or,  in  her  own 
words,  for  which  the  English  furnishes  no  exact  equivalent, 
"  Le  roi  de  Navarre  a  voulu  faire  chou  pour  chou  ;  mais  le  mien 
est  mieux  pomme."  ' 

The  court,  and  the  foreign  diplomatists  too,  held  up  their 
hands  in  amazement  at  the  "  exorbitant  "  demands  of  the  Hu- 
guenots, who  went  so  far  as  to  claim  for  Heniy  of  Navarre  per- 
fect freedom  in  the  government  of  the  province  of  Guyenne, 
with  no  interference  on  the  part  of  Marshal  Biron."    But  in 


'  Memoires  de  Sully,  i.  73  (chap.  10)  ;  Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  ii.  334,  335.  The 
correspondence  of  Henry  himself,  contained  in  the  first  volume  of  Xivrey, 
Lettres  missives  de  Henri  IV.,  shows  that  the  romantic  adventure  of  the  text 
occurred  not  in  August,  but  in  October,  1578,  between  the  17th  and  28th.  A 
brief  note  to  M.  de  Batz,  apjjarently  written  on  the  morning  of  the  day  of  the 
attack  upon  Fleurance,  proves  that  Henry  had  for  some  time  contemphited 
the  movement,  and  had  carefully  made  his  preparations  for  it.  The  note  itself 
presents  to  view  the  most  attractive  side  of  the  writer's  character.  "  C"est  mer- 
veille,"  he  says,  "que  la  diligence  de  vostre  homme  et  la  vostre.  Taut  pis  iiuo 
n'ayez  praticque  personne  du  dedans  a  Florence,  la  meilleure  place  m'est  trop 
chere  du  sang  d'un  de  mes  amis.  Ceste  mesme  nuict  je  vous  joindray  et  y 
seront  les  bons  de  mes  braves.    Henry."    Lettres  missives,  i.  202. 

-  Saracini  to  the  grand  duke,  March  2,  157'J,  Negociations  aveo  la  Toscane, 
iv.  247. 


190 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.      Ch.  III. 


the  end  the  Iluguenots  carried  most  of  their  points.  Catharine, 
it  is  said,  saw  the  necessity  of  making  friends  of  them  in  order 
Results  of  the  Counterbalance  the  growing  power  of  the  Guises 
conference,  gpain.  Auother  treaty  was  arranged  in  twenty- 

seven  articles,  embodying  a  more  favorable  interpretation  of  the 
preceding  treaties,  and  granting  the  Protestants  the  right  to  build 
churches  and  raise  funds  for  the  support  of  their  ministers. 
Instead  of  their  being  compelled  to  give  up  the  places  already 
held  as  a  pledge  for  their  security,  the  number  of  places  was 
actually  increased.  Fourteen  cities — three  in  Guyenne  and  the 
remainder  in  Languedoc — were  intrusted  to  them  to  keep  imtil 
the  autunm  of  the  same  year ;  and  Henry  of  Yalois  engaged  to 
pay  to  them  thirty-six  thousand  livres  tournois  monthly  for  the 
Huguenot  garrisons,  that  so  the  inhabitants  might  be  spared 
from  the  exactions  of  the  soldiery.' 

This  was  not  the  only  instance  in  which  the  King  of  France 
M'as  forced  to  make  concessions.    Much  as  Henry  hated  the 
^  ^     Protestants,  it  was  his  lot  to  see  his  own  real  interests 
Geneva  under  for  tlic  most  part  bouud  Up  witli  tlic  f ortuucs  of  those 

his  protection.      ,  .  i       iii  ^ 

whose  reliKious  views  he  liad  been  taught  to  detest. 
The  great  errors  of  his  reign  are,  with  few  exceptions,  traceable 
to  the  neglect  or  violation  of  the  self-evident  necessity  of  mak- 
ing friends  and  allies  of  the  Huguenots.  In  the  matter  of  the 
city  of  Geneva,  Henry  found  himself  not  a  little  embarrassed 
how  to  act.  If  he  looked  at  the  question  from  the  religious 
side,  the  little  republic  on  Lake  Leman  seemed  to  be  the  very 
embodiment  of  everything  from  which  his  soul  revolted.  The 
home  of  Calvin  had  lost,  since  the  great  reformer's  death,  none 
of  its  singular  pre-eminence  as  the  virtual  capital  of  continental 

'  Text  in  Du  Mont,  Corps  diplomatique,  v.  337-341.  The  articles  of  Nerac 
•were  signed  by  Catharine  and  Navarre  in  February,  and  were  ratified  by  Henry 
III.  March  19,  1579.  The  instructions  given  to  ro3-al  commissioners  now  de- 
spatched tliroughout  the  kingdom,  to  inquire  into  and  apply  a  remedy  to  the 
prevailing  malversations  and  disorders,  are  printed  in  the  Memoires  de  Nevers, 
i.  005,  etc.  The  cities  of  Bazas,  Puymirol,  and  Figeac,  in  Guyenne,  were  to 
be  held  by  the  King  of  Navarre  until  the  last  day  of  August,  and  no  longer ; 
the  cities  of  Revel,  Briatexte,  Alet,  Sainte  Agreve,  Baix,  Bagnols,  Alais,  Lunel, 
Sommicres,  Aimargues,  and  Gignac,  in  the  province  of  Languedoc,  were  to  be 
held  a  mouth  longer.    See  article  xvii. 


1579. 


PROTECTION  EXTENDED  TO  GENEVA. 


191 


Protestantism.  Inferior  to  Calvin  in  intellectual  endowments 
Beza  might  be,  but  he  was  more  of  a  man  of  the  world,  and, 
with  the  reputation  of  elegant  literary  accomjjlishments  and  elo- 
quence, he  was  regarded,  both  by  friends  and  by  foes,  as  having 
justly  fallen  heir  to  the  marvellous  influence  of  his  great  pred- 
ecessor. The  theological  school  under  his  care  was  the  most 
celebrated  institution  of  its  kind.  It  was  still  from  Geneva 
that  France  was  supplied  with  those  reformed  preachers  whose 
instructions  had  as  magic  an  effect  in  nerving  the  arms  of 
IIvTguenot  soldiers  to  deeds  of  valor  as  in  implanting  heroic 
endurance  in  the  hearts  of  weak  women  and  children.  Geneva, 
in  short,  was,  in  the  eyes  of  the  pope  and  of  the  fanatical  clergy 
of  France,  the  nest  of  heresy  which  it  behooved  the  Yery  Chris- 
tian kings  and  all  other  Homan  Catholic  princes,  above  every- 
thing else,  to  destroy.  "  It  were  to  be  desired,"  wrote  Henry  of 
Valois  himself,  three  years  later,  "  that  the  city  of  Geneva  had 
long  since  been  reduced  to  ashes,  because  of  the  seed  of  bad 
doctrine  which  it  has  scattered  abroad  through  many  parts  of 
Christendom,  whence  have  ensued  infinite  evils,  ruins,  and  ca- 
lamities, and  more  in  my  kingdom  than  in  any  other  place." ' 

But  from  a  political  point  of  view  the  safety  and  independ- 
ence of  Geneva  concerned  the  French  crown  intimately.  Ge- 
neva in  the  hands  of  the  Duke  of  Savoy  would  be  a  perpetual 
menace  to  the  French  frontier.  The  city  held  the  key  to  the 
most  practicable  passage  for  the  Swiss  mercenaries  upon  -whose 
aid  the  crown  principally  depended,  now  that  the  armed  sup- 
port of  feudal  dependants  had  become  so  insufficient  and  \m- 
certain.  Besides,  the  Swiss  themselves  recognized  in  Geneva 
an  indispensable  bulwark  of  their  own  cantons ;  and  Boman 
Catholic  Soleure,  not  less  than  Protestant  Berne,  stoutly  refused 
to  approve  of  any  plan  that  did  not  include  Geneva  in  the 
ancient  alliance  between  the  Swiss  and  the  French  monarchy. 
The  king  himself  was  forced  to  take  the  same  ground.  Ge- 
neva," he  wrote  in  the  letter  which  has  just  been  quoted,  "is  so 
situated  that  it  could  not  be  reduced  to  obedience  by  any  prince 


•  Henry  III.  to  Mandelot  and  Hautefort,  March  13,  1582,  in  Henri  Fazy, 
Geneve,  le  Parti  Huguenot  et  le  Traity  de  Soleure,  123. 


192 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.       Cu.  III. 


among  my  neighbors  but  that  he  would  hold  in  subjection  the 
Swiss  confederates  and  place  them  at  his  mercy  ;  for  it  would 
be  in  his  power — if  he  held  the  Pas  de  I'Ecluse,  which  he 
would  incontinently  fortify — to  prevent  my  rendering  aid  to  the 
Swiss  in  their  need,  or  their  coming  to  my  succor  and  service 
when  I  might  summon  them."  ' 

Long  and  anxiously  did  Henry  debate  the  matter  with  him- 
self, setting  over  against  the  advantages  to  be  expected  from 
the  alliance  the  denunciations  in  which  the  preachers  of  the 
League  would  be  sure  to  indulge  of  a  king  that  made  himself  the 
champion  of  obstinate  heretics.  In  the  end,  he  concluded,  on 
the  eighth  of  May,  1579,  the  menaorable  treaty  in  accordance 
with  which  he  formally  took  Geneva  under  his  protection. 
His  apprehensions  were  fully  realized  in  the  loud  outcry  raised 
by  the  parish  priests  and  monks.'  A  king  that  threw  the  mantle 
of  his  guardianship  around  Geneva,  a  king  whose  brother  was 
supposed  by  everyone  to  be  as  good  as  married  to  Queen  Eliza- 
beth,' could  not  expect  to  escape  the  censure  of  the  bigoted. 

For  Henry  the  Third  was  now  reaping,  in  merited  distrust 
and  contempt,  the  ordinary  fruit  of  insincerity  and  duplicity  ; 

while  so  clnmsv  were  his  attempts  to  purchase  the 

The  devotions  ri  "-ti  i  ii-i 

of  Henry  of  favor  of  the  pricsthood,  and  atone  by  his  devotions 
for  the  baseness  of  a  life  more  and  more  suspected 
of  infamous  excess,  that  he  rarely  failed  to  create  opposition 
and  hatred  where  he  sought  to  conciliate  friendship.  The 

'  Henry  III.  to  Mandelot  and  Hautefort,  xihi  supra,  122,  123.  The  preamble 
of  the  Treaty  of  Soleure  itself  sets  forth  the  importance  of  Geneva—"  pour 
estre  icelle  ville  de  Geneve  I'une  des  clefs  et  principal  boulevart  du  pays  des- 
dictes  villes,  et  qui  peult  tenir  le  passage  libre  et  ouvert  entre  sadicte  Majeste 
et  lesdicts  Seigneurs  des  Ligues."    Ibid.,  190. 

'  Traite  perpetuel  fait  par  Henri  III.,  roi  de  France,  avec  les  villes  de  Ge- 
neve, Berne  et  Soleure.  Du  Mont,  Corps  diplomatique,  v.  347-349  ;  and  Fazv, 
190-206.  De  Thou,  v.  G19,  620.  The  Duke  of  Nevers  defends  Henry's 
catholicity  in  the  transaction  in  his  "  Traite  des  causes  et  des  raisons  de  la 
prise  des  armes,"  Memoires,  ii.  38.    (Cimber  et  Danjou,  xiii.  65.) 

^  In  tliis  same  month  the  Florentine  agent  wrote  to  his  master  that  the  Duke 
of  Alencon  said  :  Che  era  per  la  Dio  grazia  maritato  ;  e  che  ne  restava  molto 
contento,  poichc  questo  gli  avveniva  con  satisfazione  della  Maesta,  del  Re  e 
della  Regina  sua  madre."  Saraciui  to  grand  duke.  May  31,  1579;  Ncgocia- 
tious  avec  la  Toscane,  iv.  257. 


1579. 


PROTECTION  EXTENDED  TO  GENEVA. 


193 


priests  laughed  in  their  sleeves  when  he  sent  to  Chartres  for  a 
shirt  for  himself,  and  a  similar  garment  for  his  wife,  upon 
which  the  Holy  Yirgin's  blessing  had  been  conferred,'  and 
when,  a  few  days  later,  the  young  queen  herself  went  in  pil- 
grimage to  the  same  famous  shrine  to  supplicate  that  Our  Lady 
would  deign  to  grant  her  the  long-desired  boon  of  a  son  to  be 
heir  to  the  kingdom.^  The  same  ecclesiastics  applauded  when, 
on  tlie  first  of  January,  1579,  the  king  instituted  the  new  Oi'der 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  (Ordre  du  Saint-Esprit) ;  for,  if  one  cause  of 
the  institution  was  the  circumstance  that  the  insignia  of  the 
Order  of  Saint  Michael  had  been  so  lavishly  confen-ed  as  to  be- 
come "  a  collar  for  all  manner  of  beasts," '  another  was  un- 
doubtedly the  desire  to  strengthen  the  hold  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  religion  upon  the  courtiers  by  rigidly  excluding  all 
heretics  from  the  circle  of  the  king's  favorites.*  Yet  even  here 
Henry  contrived  to  offend  the  clergy  by  proposing  to  assign  to 
each  member  an  income  of  ten  thousand  crowns  a  year  to  be 
taken  from  the  revenues  of  the  church — a  plan  to  which  Pope 
Gregory  the  Thirteenth  refused  his  consent,  and  which  called 
forth  miirmurs  of  disapprobation  from  the  preachers.' 

If  the  king's  devotions  were  received  with  suspicion  or  de- 
rision by  the  people,  it  was  certainly  not  because  of  any  lack  of 
Popular  superstition  in  the  lower  classes  of  society.  A  violent 
superstition,  earthquake  occurring  about  this  time  in  Central 
France  was  at  first  believed  by  many  to  be  the  sign  of  the 
appi'oaching  end  of  the  world.  At  once  various  pilgrimages 
were  set  on  foot  in  town  and  in  country.  Among  other  public 
demonstrations,  a  notable  procession  took  place  in  the  city  of 
Tours,  under  the  auspices  of  the  whole  body  of  the  clergy  and 
the  civil  judges.    The  people  were  all  there,  says  a  contem- 


'  Lestoile,  under  date  of  January  23,  1579,  i.  113. 

'  Saracini  to  grand  duke,  February  3,  1579,  Negociations  avec  la  Toscane, 
iv.  240. 

^  "  Collier  a  toutes  bestes,"  Lestoile,  i.  110,  111. 

*  See  "  Les  Ceremonies  observees  a  I'institution  de  I'ordre  du  Saint-Esprit," 
apud  Cimber  et  Danjou,  Archives  curieuses,  ix.  289-302. 

^One  of  them,  Dr.  Bruslart,  was  put  in  the  Bastile.    Journal  d'un  cure 
ligueur  (Jehan  de  la  Fosse),  152,  153. 
Vol.  I.— 13 


194  THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.      Cu.  UL 

poraiy  chronicler,  witliout  exception  of  age  or  sex,  and  even 
to  young  children.  All  assembled  in  their  parish  churches, 
whence  they  proceeded  to  the  great  church  of  Saint  Martin  of 
Tours.  Here  the  procession  formed,  with  the  priests  carrying 
the  bones  of  the  patron  saint  and  other  relics  held  in  scarcely 
less  reverence,  and  marched  out  of  the  city.  "  In  it,"  to  use 
the  words  of  the  appreciative  euro  of  Meriot,  "  there  were  more 
than  three  hundred  persons  with  body,  head,  feet,  and  hands 
naked,  having  before  them  but  a  simple  sheet  or  cloth  to  cover 
their  parts  of  shame.  Some,  by  way  of  penance,  carried  great 
bars  of  iron  upon  their  shoulders,  others  thick  pieces  of  wood. 
The  priests  all  walked  barefoot  and  very  simply  clad."  This 
was  in  midwinter — the  twenty-sixth  of  January.'  So  far  from 
being  likely  to  undervalue  any  sincere  act  of  devotion,  the  peo- 
ple seemed  sometimes  to  outdo  even  their  priests  in  zeal.  Of 
this  the  inhabitants  of  the  village  of  Courlons,  not  far  from 
Provins,  gave  a  signal  proof.  Desirous  of  obtaining  from 
heaven  a  cessation  of  the  destructive  frosts  that  threatened  their 
vineyards,  the  peasants  petitioned  their  priest  to  order  a  pro- 
cession, after  vespers,  to  a  chapel  in  a  remote  part  of  his 
parish.  The  indolent  curate  granted  the  request,  but  substi- 
tuted a  somewhat  nearer  place  of  worship,  to  which,  after 
vespers  were  said,  he  led  the  way  with  his  vicar.  But  scarce 
was  the  procession  out  of  the  village,  when  the  people,  turning 
their  backs  upon  their  chief  ecclesiastic,  directed  their  steps 
toward  the  place  which  they  had  themselves  originally  chosen. 
In  the  quarrel  that  ensued  the  parish  priest  was  severely  han- 
dled for  his  laziness ;  indeed,  a  few  of  the  more  enthusiastic 
members  of  his  flock  at  length  lost  all  patience,  and  deliber- 
ately seizing  him,  carried  him  to  the  bank  of  the  neighboring 
Yonne,  and  threw  him  into  the  stream,  where  he  nearly  lost 
his  life.' 

The  summer  of  1579  witnessed  important  convocations  of 
both  of  the  religions,  now  and  long  marshalled  with  so  hostile 
a  front  in  France.    The  Roman  Catholic  clergy,  suspicious,  not 


'  Memoires  de  Claude  Haton,  ii.  973,  974. 
nhUl,  ii.  977. 


1579. 


PROTECTION  EXTENDED  TO  GENEVA. 


195 


without  fair  reasons,  of  the  intentions  of  the  hing  in  conven- 
ing them,  had  absohitely  declined  to  meet  in  the  capital,  and 
had  made  out  a  list  of  places,  all  of  them,  it  was 
the  clergy  to  hoped,  sufficiently  removed  from  court  iniluences  to 

help  the  king.  •  ■     ^  ^  £  i.- 

permit  them  to  exercise  some  independence  or  action. 
They  also  insisted  that  no  cardinal  or  archbishop  should  have 
a  seat  in  the  assembly,  because  these  dignitaries  had  had  too 
much  to  do  with  those  previous  levies  made  upon  the  church, 
in  which  great  abuses  had  been  experienced.  The  king  selected 
Melun  for  the  seat  of  the  clergy's  deliberations,  whence  he  sub- 
sequently brought  them  to  Paris.  But  in  neither  place  did  he 
find  the  members  very  tractable.  They  complained  that  not 
less  than  twenty-eight  of  the  French  bishoprics  had  been  left 
vacant  in  order  that  laymen  might  enjoy  the  revenues.  As  to 
other  ecclesiastical  benefices,  if  we  can  place  any  reliance  upon 
the  statements  made  by  the  Bishop  of  Bazas  in  a  remonstrance 
addressed  to  the  monarch  in  the  name  of  his  order,  France 
would  seem  to  have  bid  fair  soon  to  rival  Germany  and  Eng- 
land in  the  secularization  of  the  property  of  religious  institu- 
tions. In  certain  families  abbacies  and  benefices  had  come  to 
be  regarded  as  among  the  chattels  which  father  handed  down  to 
son,  and  the  royal  council  itself  had  lately  adjudged  a  bishopric 
to  a  woman  of  rank.  The  clergy  declared  that  the  road  to  reform 
lay  in  the  adoption  of  the  decrees  of  the  Council  of  Trent.  Not 
content  with  this,  they  enraged  the  king  by  demanding  the  repeal 
of  that  profitable  Concordat  of  Leo  the  Tenth  and  Francis  the 
First  which  had  thrown  almost  the  whole  patronage  into  the  hands 
of  the  crown  while  they  infuriated  the  people  by  deliberately 
resolving  that  the  clergy  had  already  paid  enough  of  the  state's 
debts,  in  accordance  with  the  contracts  of  Poissy  (1561)."  AVhen 
the  news  of  the  refusal  to  assist  the  king  in  his  desperate  straits 
reached  the  populace  of  Paris,  the  tiers  etat,  having  no  mind 
to  receive  upon  its  neck  the  burden  which  the  priests  coolly 
proposed  to  transfer  thither  from  their  own  shoulders,  nearly 
brought  on  a  riot  in  the  streets  of  the  capital.  It  was  averted 
by  the  prompt  and  somewhat  arbitrary  action  of  the  Parliament 


'  See  the  Rise  of  the  Huguenots,  i.  35-41. 


«  Ibid.,  i.  543. 


196 


THE  HUGUEXOTS  ASD  HEXRY  OF  XAVARRE.      Ch.  IIL 


of  Paris  in  summoning  to  its  bar  all  the  members  of  the  convo- 
cation then  within  reach,  and  threatening  with  arrest  any  who 
should  attempt  to  flee.  In  the  end,  Henry  secured  a  renewal  of 
the  ecclesiastical  tithes  for  the  term  of  ten  years,  and  thus  ap- 
peased the  people.' 

While  the  convocation  protracted  its  sessions  through  the 
sununer  and  autunm,  the  Tenth  National  Synod  of  the  Ee- 
_^  ^_  formed  Churches  met  at  Figeac  in  Quercy  on  the 
tionai  Synod,  sccoud  of  Augjust,  and  adiom-ned  six  days  later.  Its 

Figeac,  1579.     ,  .         °  „  /  , 

deliberations,  iiowever,  except  so  tar  as  they  respected 
the  constant  solicitude  of  the  Huguenots  for  the  thorough  edu- 
cation of  candidates  for  the  sacred  ministry,  and  the  effort  to 
secure  regular  yearly  meetings  of  the  highest  ecclesiastical  court 
of  the  Ileformed  Church,  contained  little  of  permanent  inter- 
est. How  ineffectual  any  provision  for  periodical  sessions  of 
the  national  synods  must  prove,  in  the  unsettled  condition  of 
France,  appears  from  the  cu-cumstance  that  the  plan  was  de- 
feated from  the  very  first  by  the  outbreak  of  the  war  of  which 
I  must  soon  speak.' 

The  preludes  of  these  new  hostilities  now  claim  our  atten- 
tion.   The  Treatv  of  !Xerac,  we  have  seen,  had  conceded  to  the 

Huojuenots  fourteen  places  in  Guvenne  and  Langue- 

Preludes  of  . 

iiewhostili-  doc  as  security  for  the  faithful  fulfilment  of  the 
promises  made  to  them.  These  places,  unlike  those 
granted  by  the  peace  of  Poitiers  and  Bergerac,  were  to  be 
restored  at  the  end  of  six  months.  By  that  time  it  was  pre- 
sumed that  tranquillity  might  be  completely  established.  As 
the  term  approached,  the  question  as  to  the  conduct  of  the 
Huguenots  became  more  and  more  difficult.  Clearly  the  ob- 
ject for  which  the  cities  had  been  put  in  their  custody  was  not 


'  Saracini  to  the  grand  duke,  October  5,  1579,  Negociations  avec  la  Toscane, 
iv.  269 ;  Mt-moires  de  Claude  Haton,  ii.  980-983  ;  De  Thou,  v.  616-619  ;  also, 
see  Ranke  (Amer.  edit.),  311. 

-  See  the  acts  of  the  National  Synod  of  Figeac,  Aymon,  i.  138-145.  The 
numerous  prescriptions  regarding  marriage,  and  the  repeated  prohibitions  of 
dancing  (a  practice  that  would  seem,  from  the  thirty-second  article  of  the  suc- 
ceeding Synod  of  La  Rochelle,  1581,  to  have  been  rather  increasing  than  di- 
minishing), need  not  be  inserted  in  these  pages. 


.1579. 


APPROACH  OP  WAR. 


197 


attained.  Tlie  peace  was  no  better  observed  since  than  before 
the  convention  of  Kerac.  In  no  province  of  the  kingdom,  in 
scarcely  a  point  of  the  compact,  was  there  an  attempt  to  carry 
out  the  provisions  conscientiously.  Fresh  places  belonging  to 
the  Huguenots  had  been  lawlessly  captured  by  the  court. 
Everywhere  justice  was  denied  to  the  Huguenots  by  the  ordi- 
nary tribunals,  while  tedious  delays  had  attended  and,  thus 
far,  frustrated  the  institution  of  the  "  chambres  tri-parties " 
which  should  have  been  erected  for  their  special  protection. 
Liberty  of  worship  was  denied  to  them  ;  and  if  their  children 
were  sent  to  the  schools  to  which  they  were  guaranteed  admis- 
sion on  equal  terms  with  the  children  of  Koman  Catholics, 
they  found  the  doors  closed  to  them  unless  they  would  consent 
to  abjure  the  faith  of  their  parents.  The  peace  was  only  an 
"  appearance,"  an  "  imagination,"  a  "  fantasy,"  an  exemplifica- 
tion of  hope  long  deferred.'  Almost  at  the  very  moment  when 
their  national  synod  was  calmly  deliberating  upon  matters  of 
doctrine  and  practice  at  Figeac,  the  Huguenots  had  called  at 
Montauban,  scarcely  more  than  fifty  miles  distant,  one  of  their 
national  political  assemblies,  to  consult  respecting  the  grave 
crisis  in  their  afPairs.  The  deputies  were  much  excited.  There 
were  not  wanting  those  that  counselled  an  instant  rising  in 
arms,  should  the  king  attempt  to  recover  by  force  the  towns 
intrusted  to  the  Protestants.  But  the  majority  was  more  tem- 
perate, and  agreed  that  the  King  of  Xavarre  be  requested  to 
resort  to  war  only  in  case  fresh  remonstrances  addressed  to  the 
crown  failed  to  bring  redress  of  Protestant  grievances.  All 
were  of  one  mind  regarding  the  impossibility  of  restoring  the 
pledged  cities.  The  court  wits,  never  loath  to  make  the  Prot- 
estant ministers  of  the  gospel  responsible  for  any  unpopular 
advice,  would  have  it  that  the  preachers  had  persuaded  the  Hu- 
guenot chiefs  to  this  course  of  action  by  reminding  them  of  the 
old  maxim  that  it  is  the  worst  of  symptoms  when  the  sick  man 
no  longer  retains  the  food  he  requires  for  his  nourishment.'' 


'  Anqnez,  Histoire  des  assemblees  politiques  des  reformes  de  France,  28,  29. 
'     Dicono  che  i  loro  rninistri  o  predicatori  li  abbiano  dissuasi,  adducendo 
che  era  pessiino  seguo  uell'  iufermo,  quando  non  laostrava  vista  di  ritenere 


198 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OP  NAVARRE.      Cn.  III. 


In  vain  did  tiie  king  send  Damville,  who,  since  the  death  of 
his  excellent  brother  rran9ois,  in  May,  1579,  had  succeeded  to 
the  honored  name  of  Montmorency.  Henry  of  Jfavarre  came 
to  meet  him  at  Mazeres,  on  the  borders  of  the  old  principality 
of  Foix,  but  in  view  of  the  little  attention  paid  by  the  Roman 
Catholics  to  the  prescriptions  of  the  recent  treaties,  declined  to 
surrender  the  small  security  which  the  Protestants  still  held 
against  the  sudden  attacks  of  their  enemies.  Indeed,  convinced 
that  the  outbreak  of  war  could  not  long  be  postponed,  the 
King  of  Kavarre  took  measures  to  render  the  conflict  prompt 
and  decisive.  With  this  end  in  view,  he  broke  a  number  of 
gold  coins  in  equal  pieces,  and  gave  or  sent  a  fragment  to  Fran- 
9ois  de  Coligny  in  Languedoc,  to  Lesdiguieres  in  Dauphiny, 
and  to  other  Protestant  chieftains  in  the  provinces,  bidding 
them  to  receive  and  act  without  hesitation  upon  any  command 
respecting  the  time  and  manner  of  conducting  hostilities  that 
might  hereafter  be  brought  from  him  by  messengers  accred- 
ited by  the  possession  of  the  fragments  of  the  corresponding 
coins.' 

The  expected  signal  was  not  long  deferred.  In  times  of  in- 
tense feeling  even  a  slight  provocation  suffices  to  fire  the  train 
long  since  laid,  and,  when  once  the  explosion  has  taken  place,  it 
becomes  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  apportion  with  accuracy 
the  amount  of  responsibility  belonging  to  the  respective  parties. 
The  Huguenots  had  given  the  King  of  France  many  occasions 
for  entertaining  anger.  The  important  city  of  Mende,  capital 
of  the  district  of  Gevaudan,  had  been  surprised  by  a  Huguenot 
partisan  leader  on  Christmas  night,  and,  although  the  King  of 
JS'avarre  promptly  disowned  the  act,  the  place  had  not  been  re- 


quel  cibo  clie  doveva  sostentarlo. "  Saracini  to  the  grand  duke,  August  16, 
1579,  Negociations  avec  la  Toscane,  iv.  263. 

'  De  Thou,  V.  612,  613,  is  to  be  corrected  by  the  more  exact  researches  of 
the  industrious  Benedictine  author  of  the  ponderous  Histoire  general  de  Lan- 
guedoc, V.  643.  The  meeting  of  Mazeres  was  not,  as  the  French  translator  of 
De  Thou  makes  it,  an  assembly  of  the  Protestant  churches,  and  it  took  place 
in  December,  not  a  month  earlier.  The  incident  of  the  distribution  of  the 
broken  coins  occurred  not  at  Mazeres,  as  De  Thou  relates,  but  at  a  political 
assembly  of  the  Huguenots  held  in  Montaubau,  in  January  or  February,  1580. 
Agrippa  d'Aubigne's  account,  ii.  338,  339  (liv.  iv.  c.  3),  is  accurate. 


1580. 


THE  SEVENTH  CIVIL  WAR. 


199 


stored  to  the  royal  officers.  Moreover,  the  Prince  of  Conde, 
tired  of  his  retreat  at  Saint  Jean  d'Angelj,  had  by  a  bold 
movement  thrown  himself  into  La  Fere,  and  thus  secured  at 
least  a  small  part  of  Picardy— that  refractory  province  with  the 
titular  government  of  which  he  had  so  long  been  forced  to  remain 
content.  Great  had  been  the  indignation  of  the  French  king 
on  hearing  of  the  audacious  blow  struck  by  the  younger  Bour- 
bon, and  he  had  scarcely  been  prevented  from  proceeding  at 
once  to  open  hostilities  by  the  entreaties  of  his  mother,  re-en- 
forced by  the  plausible  justification  of  the  culprit  and  the  in- 
tercession of  the  King  of  Kavarre.  Indeed,  the  latter,  not 
without  reason,  gave  Henry  to  understand  that  nothing  could 
have  occurred  more  likely  to  prove  advantageous  to  the  lasting 
intei'ests  of  the  crown  than  his  cousin's  presence  in  the  heart  of 
that  very  province  where,  four  years  before,  had  been  laid  the 
first  foundations  of  the  pernicious  Catholic  League.'  But, 
more  than  anything  else,  the  King  of  France  and  his  counsel- 
lors resented  the  persistent  refusal  of  the  Huguenots  to  restore 
the  fourteen  cities  of  security  placed  in  their  hands  for  six 
months  only,  in  accordance  with  the  articles  of  Nerac.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  Huguenots  declared  that,  to  their  great  regret, 
it  was  impossible  for  them  to  satisfy  the  king's  requisition 
without  exposing  themselves  to  manifest  ruin ;  for  they  had 
gathered  none  of  those  fruits  of  quiet  and  safety  of  which  the 
cities  pledged  to  them  were  intended  to  be  the  earnest.  "  Inas- 
much," said  they,  "  as  these  cities  have  been  inti'usted  to  the 
guardianship  of  men  that  are  no  other  than  your  very  faithful 
and  natural  French  subjects,  your  majesty  ought  not  to  take  the 
matter  to  heart  as  though  they  were  kept  back  by  Spaniards, 


'  "Prevoyant  qu'en  ceste  province,  en  laquelle  se  sont  jectez  les  premiers 
fondemens  de  ligue,  il  pourroit  advenir  par  leur  accroissement  beaucoup  de  de- 
sordre  a  I'Estat,  je  m'asseure,  Monseigneur,  que  pour  en  arrester  le  cours,  rien 
ne  pourroit  tant  servir  que  la  presence  de  mon  diet  cousin."  Henry  of  Navarre 
to  Henry  III.,  Nerac,  January  24,  1580,  Lettres  missives,  viii.  (Supplement) 
158.  It  is  not  a  little  significant  of  the  real  position  of  Catharine  de'  Medici, 
as  still  swaying  the  destinies  of  France,  that  in  a  letter  to  her,  of  the  same 
date  and  on  the  same  topic,  the  King  of  Navarre  inadvertently  uses  the  ex- 
pression "  voz  edictz,  Madame."    Ibid.,  viii.  159. 


200 


THE  HUGUEXOTS  AND  HEXRY  OF  NAVARRE.      Ch.  IEL 


Englishmen,  or  other  foreigners.  And  in  acting  as  we  have 
done,  it  is  our  belief  that  we  have  not  failed  of  keeping  our 
engagements,  since  these  were  conditioned  upon  your  majesty's 
promise  to  carry  your  edict  into  operation."  ' 

In  the  war  that  ensued  the  King  of  Navarre  took  the  initia- 
tive. The  fifteenth  of  April  was  appointed  as  the  time  for  a 
general  rising,  and  for  a  few  days  before  this  date  the  Bearnese 
and  his  cousin  were  busy  preparing  and  despatching  letters  in- 
tended to  vindicate  their  course  in  the  eyes  of  the  world.' 

A  long  "  declaration  "  published  by  the  King  of  Xavarre  on 
this  occasion  merits  more  than  a  passing  notice  ;  for  it  sets  in 
a  clear  light  the  intolerable  grievances  to  which  the 

Justification  ^  r      i  i        t    •        i  i  i 

of  the  King   rrotcstaut  churchcs,  or  whom  he  claimed  to  be  the 

of  Navarre. 

"  protector,  were  subjected. 
The  Huguenots,  said  Henry,  have  not  taken  arms  against 
the  person  of  their  monarch,  but  have  risen  simply  because,  by 
reason  of  continual  infi-actions,  the  royal  edict  of  pacification 
has  become  illusory,  and  their  condition  worse  than  that  of  the 
Jews  in  any  land  on  the  face  of  the  globe,  worse,  indeed,  than 
that  to  which,  as  Protestants,  they  would  be  reduced  in  Mo- 
hammedan Turkey  or  in  the  most  barbarous  of  empires.  In 
the  matter  of  public  worship,  the  edict  grants  them  a  place  for 
their  services  in  every  bailiwick  and  senechaussee  ;  but,  despite 
frequent  petitions,  the  provision  remains  unexecuted  in  most 
instances.  Xo  places  have  been  assigned  in  the  four  bailiwicks 
of  Champagne,  none  in  Picardy,  Anjou,  Touraine,  and  other 
provinces.  In  some  cases  the  Huguenots  have  been  silenced  by 
threats  of  massacre  should  they  persevere  in  their  demands. 


'  "V.  M.,  Mouseigueur,  ne  le  doibt  prendre  a  desplaisir,  comme  sy  elles 
estoient  detenues  par  Espaignols,  Auglois  ou  aultres  estrangers,  et  en  cela  ne 
pensons  non  plus  avoir  manque  a  nostre  foy  lyee  a  la  precedente  promesse 
d'effectuer  vostre  edict,  ainsi  qu'elle  est  contenue  aux  articles  de  la  confe- 
rence." Henry  of  Navarre  to  Henry  HI.,  Mazeres,  January  10,  1580,  Lettres 
missives,  viii.  (Supplement)  153. 

•  See  the  letter  of  Conde  to  Lord  Burleigh,  from  La  Fere,  April  12,  1580, 
printed  by  the  editors  of  the  Journal  of  Lestoile  (Collection  Michaud  et 
Poujoulat),  i.  122,  123  ;  and  the  letters  of  Henry  of  Navarre  to  the  Earl  of 
Susses  (April  13),  to  the  Noblesse  of  France  (April  15),  and  to  Henry  III. 
(April  20)  in  Lettres  missives,  i.  287-298. 


15S0. 


THE  SEVENTH  CIVIL  WAR. 


201 


Where  their  enemies  have  deigned  to  concede  a  place  for  the 
Protestant  "  preche,"  it  has  been  purposely  selected  because  of 
its  inconvenient  situation.  In  the  Pays  de  Caux,  it  is  Cany — a 
village  that  has  not  a  single  Protestant  inhabitant ;  for  Meaux, 
it  is  Moissard — a  village  five  leagues  distant,  deep  in  the  forest 
of  Crecy  ;  for  Rouen,  Caen,  and  Bourges,  it  is  some  hamlet  so 
remote  as  to  preclude  the  attendance  of  the  aged,  as  well  as  of 
the  women  and  the  childi-en  ;  as  for  Metz,  the  perils  of  floods 
are  added  to  the  other  difficulties.  In  short,  if,  after  long  and 
vexatious  delays,  a  place  has  been  grudgingly  granted,  the 
choice  has  always  fallen  upon  some  sorry  and  distant  vilhige, 
near  to  a  seditious  population  ready  to  massacre  the  poor  Hu- 
guenots, on  some  river  to  drown  them,  or  in  recesses  of  the 
forests  where  their  throats  may  be  cut.'  Under  these  circum- 
stances the  worshippers  are  forced  to  fall  back  upon  those 
churches  that  may  be  established,  not  without  hinderances  of 
every  imaginable  kind,  in  the  houses  of  such  nobles  as,  under 
the  edict,  enjoy  the  right  to  hold  religious  services  on  their 
estates. 

Xor  are  these  the  only  annoyances  to  which  the  Huguenots 
are  exposed.  They  are  pestered  by  the  curates  and  the  vicars 
to  bring  their  children  to  be  baptized,  to  take,  when  near  their 
end,  the  sacraments  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  to  contribute 
to  the  repair  of  ecclesiastical  buildings.  If  advocates  in  Parlia- 
ment or  Chatelet,  they  are  compelled  to  pay  for  masses  and  aid 
the  religious  fraternities.  In  almost  every  city  they  must  drape 
their  houses  at  the  feast  of  Corpus  Christi.  The  preachers  are 
permitted  to  indulge  in  violent  and  seditious  counsels  to  their 
hearers,  whom  they  assure  that  fresh  massacres  are  necessary, 
that  the  Huguenots  must  be  exterminated,  that  such  acts  of  blood 
are  an  agreeable  sacrifice  to  God.  No  burial-grounds  are  granted 
according  to  the  prescriptions  of  the  edict.  The  bodies  of  the 
dead  already  buried  are  unearthed.  So  unjust  are  the  officers 
of  the  law,  that  even  where  the  mixed  chambers  are  established, 


'  "  On  a  tousjours  choisi  quelque  mauvais  village  ecarte,  pres  des  scditieux 
pour  massacrer  les  pauvres  gens,  s\ir  quelque  riviere  pour  les  noyer,  ou  dedans 
les  bois  et  forests  pour  leur  couper  la  gorge." 


202 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE. 


Cn.  III. 


tlie  Roman  Catholics  who  constitute  two-thirds  of  the  eoni-t 
nnifonnlj  outvote  the  Protestant  one-third.  Cities  that  held 
for  the  Huguenots  in  the  late  war  have,  from  revenge,  been 
deprived  of  the  exercise  of  justice.  Protestants  are  excluded 
from  office  ;  their  widows  and  orphan  children  can  obtain  no 
satisfaction  for  the  murder  of  the  dearest  of  relations.  "  In 
the  cit}'  of  Orleans,  where  by  massacre,  fire,  and  the  greatest 
and  most  barbarous  of  cruelties  one  of  the  finest  and  most 
flourishing  churches  that  ever  existed  in  France  has  been  re- 
duced to  ruin,  the  enemy  still  has  his  foot  so  firmly  upon  the 
throats  of  those  who,  through  weakness  or  fear,  have  returned 
to  the  Pomish  religion,  that  they  dare  not  say  a  word,  or  have 
a  single  religions  book  in  their  possession."  The  Protestants 
are  caught  and  treated  like  brigands  ;  their  cities  are  the  objects 
of  lawless  attack  ;  their  property  is  pillaged  ;  their  women  are 
shamefully  insulted.  As  to  their  cities  of  refuge,  they  con- 
tented themselves  with  the  eight  that  were  intrusted  to  their 
keeping  for  six  years,  and  the  fourteen  that  they  were  to  restore 
in  six  months.  Put  none  of  the  engagements  made  with  them 
have  been  kept.  Excluded  from  some  of  the  cities  to  which 
they  sought  to  return,  any  Huguenots  that  have  borne  arms  are 
in  perpetual  danger.  Leagues,  fraternities,  processions,  intim- 
idate them  and  remind  them  of  possible  massacres  awaiting 
them  in  the  future. 

Such  was  the  picture  drawn  by  Henry  of  Navarre  of  the  in- 
juries done  to  his  fellow  Huguenots — injuries  to  which  they  could 
no  longer  submit  without  the  prospect  of  entire  ruin.  His  own 
private  wrongs  and  the  wrongs  of  his  cousin,  the  Prince  of  Conde, 
in  the  retention  of  cities  belonging  to  them  of  right,  and  in  the 
exclusion  of  the  prince  from  his  government  of  Picardy,  were 
set  forth  in  detail,  but  the  particulars  need  not  be  repeated  here.' 


'  "Declaration  et  protestation  du  roy  de  Navarre,  snr  les  jnstes  occasions 
qui  I'ont  men  de  prendre  les  armes,  pour  la  defense  et  tuition  des  Eglises 
reformees  de  France.  Imprime  nouvellement,  1580."  The  document  is 
given  in  full  in  Cimber  et  Danjou,  x.  1-52.  A  counter  declaration  of  Henry 
III.,  intended  to  weaken  the  King  of  Navarre,  and  promising  protection  to  all 
Protestants  that  might  remain  quietly  at  home,  was  issued  June  3,  1580.  Text 
in  Isambert,  Recueil  des  anciennes  lois  franyaises,  xiv.  478. 


1580. 


THE  SEVENTH  CIVIL  WAR. 


203 


Were  these  complaints  well  grounded  ?  There  seems  to  be 
no  reason  to  doubt  it.  Was  the  oppression  of  the  Protestants 
so  remediless  as  to  make  a  resort  to  arms  unavoidable  ? 
war  unavoid-  Here  opiuions  differed  widely.  The  Huguenot  no- 
bles, with  brave  Chatillon  among  them,  declared  it 
impossible  longer  to  maintain  the  forms  of  a  peace  that  secured 
none  of  the  rights  so  solemnly  pledged  by  royal  edicts,  secret 
articles,  and  supplementary  compacts.  Is  o  sooner  had  the  mes- 
sengers of  Henry  of  Xavarre  arrived,  bringing  with  them  the 
broken  coins  that  were  to  accredit  them,  than  they  leaped  into 
the  saddle  and  hastened  to  the  scene  of  action.  Not  so  the 
ministers  of  the  gospel,  not  so  the  people.  Above  all,  the  great 
province  of  Languedoc  showed  marked  reluctance.  Tired  of 
conflicts,  from  the  blasting  effects  of  which  they  had  not  yet 
recovered,  the  cities — Xismes,  Montpellier,  and  other  places 
scarcely  less  important — positively  declined  to  take  up  again 
the  weapons  of  civil  war  ;  and  it  was  not  \intil  more  than  three 
months  had  elapsed  that  "  the  city  of  antiquities  "  overcame  its 
scruples.  Aigues-mortes,  Lunel,  and  Sommieres  were  for  a 
time  the  only  towns  of  the  lower  part  of  the  province  whose 
Protestant  population  forsook  their  peaceful  pursuits.  La  E,o- 
chelle  and  her  old  champion,  Frangois  de  la  None,  he  of  the 
Iron  Arm,  openly  expressed  their  detestation  of  the  war  so 
lightly  begun  by  the  King  of  Navarre,  and  denounced  it  as  un- 
just.' There  were,  indeed,  not  wanting  those  who  denied  that, 
so  far  as  the  Bearnese  was  concerned,  the  outbreak  of  hostili- 
ties had  any  other  than  personal  motives. 

It  is  no  part  of  my  province  to  describe  at  length  the  circum- 
stances that  had  transformed  the  peculiarly  strong  tie  of  frater- 
nal affection  once  subsisting  between  Margaret  of  Yalois  and 
Henry  the  Third  into  intense  hatred.  It  is  enough  for  the  pur- 
poses of  this  history  to  say  that  the  fair  but  frail  Queen  of 
Kavarre  was  fully  resolved  to  condone  all  the  moral  delin- 
quencies of  her  husband,  could  she  but  move  him  to  renew  the 
struggle  against  her  brother.  If  we  may  credit  the  gossip  of 
contemporaries  only  too  likely  to  be  well  informed,  she  did  not 


'  Lestoile,  i.  128  ;  Agrippa  d'AubigiiL',  ii.  348  ;  De  Thou,  vi.  14. 


204 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.      Cu.  ILL 


even  disdain  to  call  in  the  assistance  of  her  own  rivals  m  the 
affections  of  her  husband,  and  to  employ  timid  Mademoiselle 
La  Fosseuse,  scarcely  more  than  a  child  in  years,  to  help  in  in- 
volving the  wretched  kingdom  in  new  broils.'  Be  this  as  it  may, 
there  can  unfortunately  be  no  doubt  respecting  the  loose  morals 
which  the  unlucky  bride  of  Samt  Bartholomew's  Day  brought 
with  her  from  the  Louvre  and  made  a  current  feature  of  the 
court  at  the  foot  of  the  Pyrenees,  once  distinguished  by  the 
virtues  of  Queen  Jeanne  d'i\Jbret.  Whether  justly  or  not,  the 
seventh  civil  war  in  which  the  Huguenots  became  involved 
received  the  sobriquet  of  "  La  Guerre  des  Amoureux  " — "  the 
Lovers'  War." ' 

The  conflict  was  fortunately  of  comparatively  short  duration, 
being  well  likened  by  a  contemporary  to  a  fire  kindled  in  straw,  so 
suddenly  did  it  burst  forth  into  flame,  so  uncertain  was 

Most  of  the    .  ,       T       T  1  •      1  •  1  mi 

Huguenots     its  progross,  SO  Completely  did  it  die  out  at  last,  ilie 

take  no  part.    ,  <-    i      tt  it  •  i 

better  part  or  the  liuguenots  had  remained  peaceably 
at  home,  and  the  leaders  had,  consequently,  at  their  disposal 
only  the  feebler  portion  of  those  who  might  have  followed  them 
in  a  war  respecting  whose  necessity  and  justice  there  was  less 
doubt.'    In  some  places,  too,  the  Liuguenots  who  took  part 


'  "  Cela  fit  que  pour  liii  remettre  la  guerre  sur  les  bras,  a  quelque  pris  que 
ce  fust,  cette  femme  artificieuse  se  servit  de  I'amour  de  son  luari  envers  Fo- 
tj'euse,  jeuue  fiUe  de  quatorze  ans,  et  du  nom  de  Montmorenci  .  .  .  flUe 
craintive  pour  son  age."  Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  ii.  345  (liv.  iv.  c.  5).  This  chap- 
ter has  a  painful  interest  for  the  student  of  the  public  morals. 

■  Ibid.,  ii.  346  :  "  Ainsi  fut  resolue  la  guerre,  qui  pour  les  raisons  susdits  fut 
nominee  la  guerre  des  Amoureux."  Henri  Martin,  Histoire  de  France,  x.  600, 
is  justifiably  severe  in  criticising  the  blunder  of  a  modern  writer  of  some  pre- 
tensions :  "  M.  Capefigue,  avec  sa  legerete  ordinaire,  impute  a  Anquetil  d'avoir 
invente  le  nom  de  '  Guerre  des  amoureux,'  aux  temps  des  marquis  de  Louis 
XV.  II  est  facheux  que  M.  Capefigue  n'ait  pas  mieux  lu  les  historiens  de 
1  epoque  dout  il  ccrivoit  I'histoire. '' 

^  Lestoile's  remarks  (  i.  128)  are  striking  enough  to  be  qiioted  :  "  Ceste  petite 
guerre  fust  uu  petit  feu  de  paille  allume  et  esteint  aussi  soudain,  la  meilleure 
et  plus  forte  partie  de  ceux  de  la  religion  n'aiant  bouge  de  leurs  maisons,  et  y 
aians  estc  conserve  soubs  I'auctorite  du  Roy.  Le  reste  qui  ne  remua  qua 
regret  et  par  force  (et  par  I'artifice,  comme  on  disoit,  de  la  roine-mere,  que 
vouloit  ung  peu  exercer  son  gendre  ;  qui  I'avoittrop  proumene  a  son  gre),  fust 
incontinent  appaise,  et  aussi  to.st  que  le  Roy  vuulust,  lequel  aiant  en  cest 


1580. 


THE  SEVENTH  CIVIL  WAR. 


205 


committed  for  a  while  the  military  blunder  of  following  timid 
counsels.  So  the  Poitevin  nobles  who  made  themselves  mas- 
ters of  Montaigu  attempted  to  carry  on  a  mode  of  warfare  that 
honorably  respected  the  rights  of  peasants  and  non-combatants, 
and  found,  at  the  end  of  six  weeks,  that  for  their  pains  they  had 
not  become  forty  strong.  But  when,  altering  their  tactics,  they 
boldly  struck  in  one  direction  after  another,  penetrating  by  their 
raids  even  to  Pirmil  (or  Pillemil),  in  the  very  suburbs  of  K'antes, 
the  capital  of  Brittany — when,  in  short,  "  they  exchanged  their 
ruinous  discretion  for  an  insolent  and  needful  rashness,"  their 
numbers  grew  so  rapidly  that  in  ten  days  they  counted  fourteen 
hundred  followers.' 

In  the  absence  of  any  signal  battle,  the  most  noteworthy 
incident  of  the  war  was  the  assault  and  capture  of  Cahors. 

This  town,  skirted  on  three  sides  by  the  river  Lot, 

Henry  of  Na-    ..  .  .  ^       r  -\t 

varre  sur-  IS  situatcd  about  as  far  to  tlie  north  oi  Montauban  as 
prise,  a  ors.  rp^^^j^^^gg  ^^iQ  soutli.  It  luxd  becu  glvcu,  together 
with  the  province  of  Qviercy,  of  which  it  was  the  capital,  in 
dower  to  the  Queen  of  aSTavarre,  despite  the  altogether  politic 
custom  that  limited  the  marriage  settlements  of  female  mem- 
bers of  the  royal  family  to  donations  of  money,  and  avoided 
the  alienation  of  the  territorial  rights  of  the  crown.  But 
Margaret  had  never  been  placed  in  the  actual  possession  of 
Cahors,  and  the  unwillingness  of  Henry  of  Valois  to  fulfil  his 
engagements  constituted  another  of  the  causes  of  the  inveter- 
ate hatred  entertained  by  that  relentless  princess  against  her 
brother.  It  was  not  difficult  for  her  to  induce  her  husband  to 
espouse  her  quarrel.  The  King  of  Xavari-e,  disgusted  that 
two-thirds  of  the  Huguenots  should  have  declined  to  heed  his 


endroit  une  intention  couverte,  contraire  a  celle  de  sa  mere,  les  faisoit  crier  et 
taire  comme  il  lui  plaisoit. "  See  the  Memoires  de  Gaclies,  283,  284,  as  to  the 
divided  counsels  of  the  Protestants  of  Languedoc. 

'  The  graphic  account  of  Agrippa  d'Aubignu  (Hist,  univ.,  ii.  340-349),  wlio 
was  an  active  participant  in  this  adventurous  campaign,  calls  forth  a  well- 
merited  euloginm  of  the  gallant  Huguenot's  book  from  the  pen  of  M  Henri 
Martin,  in  his  great  history,  x.  600,  COl :  "  C'est  presque  toujours  dans  ce 
beau  livre  qu'il  faut  chercher  les  traits  characteristiques  qui  mettent  en  lumiere 
la  vraie  physiouomie  du  temps." 


206 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRK      Ch.  HL 


summons  to  war,  and  anxious  at  last  to  strike  some  blow  by 
which  he  might  win  the  martial  distinction  for  which  he  had 
begun  more  than  ever  to  thirst,  gathered  a  force  and  undertook 
an  attack  which  was  condemned  in  advance  by  his  most  judi- 
cious advisers  as  rash  and  foolhardv.  The  issue,  however,  justi- 
fied his  boldness.  The  garrison  of  Cahors  was,  indeed,  fiilly 
as  strong  as  the  following  of  the  Bearnese :  the  city  boasted,  in 
the  person  of  Monsieur  de  Tezins,  a  governor  as  distinguished 
for  his  bravery  and  good  conduct  as  he  had  showed  himself 
eight  years  before  illustrious  for  his  magnanimity  toward  the 
personal  enemy  whom,  at  much  pains,  he  rescued  from  butchery 
in  the  Parisian  matins.'  The  burgesses  of  Cahors,  especially 
such  as  had  participated  in  a  local  massacre  of  the  small  body 
of  Protestants  nearly  twenty  years  before,^  were  violently  op- 
posed to  Huguenot  domination,  and  were  quite  ready  to  fight 
against  it.  But  Henry  of  Xavarre  was  rapid  in  his  movements. 
At  the  very  instant  that  he  was  reported  to  be  at  Montauban, 
engaged  in  earnest  discussion  of  new  terms  of  peace,  he  pre- 
sented himself  at  the  walls  of  Cahors,  and  found  the  garrison 
imsuspicious  of  the  intended  attack.  The  king  was  so  fortunate 
as  to  make  his  attack  under  cover  of  an  extraordinarily  severe 
storm.  The  very  explosion  of  the  petards'  by  which  an  open- 
ing was  effected  through  the  gates  defending  one  of  the  bridges 


'  The  Rise  of  the  Huguenots,  ii.  4S0,  4S1. 

-  The  French  translator  of  De  Thou,  in  undertaking  to  correct  the  historian "s 
statement,  himself  blunders  ;  for  the  massacre  referred  to  was  not  connected 
with  tlie  events  of  St.  Bartholomew's  Day,  as  he  erroneously  supposes,  but  oc- 
curred on  Sunday,  November  16,  1561 ;  see  Languet's  letter  of  December  11, 
1.561,  Epistolas  secretae,  ii.  ISo,  and  Histoire  ecclesiastique  des  eglises  reformees, 
i.  536-538.  About  forty-two  Protestants  were  murdered.  De  Thou  gives  an 
account  of  the  occurrence  (iii.  book  32,  2S4,  285,)  evidently  based  upon  the 
Histoire  ecclesiastique,  but  misplaces  it. 

3  This  new  implement  of  warfare  was  so  strange  as  to  lead  the  historian  De 
Thou  to  describe  it  at  considerable  length  ( vi.  5),  and  it  has  been  asserted  that 
the  petard  was  first  used  at  the  siege  of  Cahors.  But  Jacques  Gaches.  in  his 
"  Memoires  sur  les  guerres  de  religion  a  Castres  et  dans  le  Languedoc," 
245,  246,  claims  that  the  first  petard  ever  used  in  his  native  province  was  em- 
ployed, with  terrific  effect,  three  years  earlier,  at  the  attack  made  by  a  Hugue- 
not band  under  Jacques  and  Antoine  Mascarene.  upon  Lisle-sur-Taru,  May 
23,  1577.    It  was,  he  tells  us,  ■•  un  reveille-matin  diaboUque.'' 


1580. 


THE  SEVENTH  CIVIL  WAR. 


207 


across  the  Lot  was  mistaken  by  many  of  the  inhabitants  for  a 
succession  of  claps  of  thunder.  But  when  once  the  entrance 
had  been  gained  into  the  interior  of  the  city,  the  Huguenots 
found  enemies  not  inferior  to  themselves  in  courage  and  reso- 
hition.  Had  not  brave  Vezins  been  mortally  wounded  early  in 
the  struggle,  it  is  probable  that  the  final  issue  might  have 
proved  quite  different.  Henry  and  his  companions  exhibited 
prodigies  of  valor.  Tliey  wrested  the  ground  inch  by  inch 
from  the  besieged.  They  entrenclied  themselves  in  the  streets, 
and  laid  siege  to  the  public  buildings  in  which  large  bodies  of 
the  enemy  had  shut  themselves  up.  They  went  out  boldly  to 
meet  and  repulse  such  fresh  troops  as  came  to  the  relief  of  the 
town.  At  length,  after  a  combat  lasting  for  several  days, 
Cahors  belonged  to  the  King  of  JSTavarre.  It  had  cost  him  the 
lives  of  some  of  his  best  officers  and  men,  but  the  exploit  was 
the  greatest  triumph  he  had  yet  won.  If  the  declaration  of  a 
friend,  that  the  surprise  of  Cahors,  lasting  six  days  and  six 
nights,  was  the  most  honorable  of  the  century,'  be  regarded  as 
too  strong  a  panegyric,  it  must  be  conceded  that  few  pitched 
battles  have  ever  more  firndy  established  the  reputation  of  a 
military  leader  for  skill  and  personal  courage.  The  effect  was 
great  and  instantaneous.  Heniy  of  Valois  was  beside  himself 
with  rage,  most  of  all  against  his  sister  by  whose  machinations 
he  had  been  deluded  into  supposing  that  nothing  was  farther 
from  the  thoughts  of  her  husband,  now  deep  in  deliberations 
for  peace,  than  so  daring  a  hostile  movement.  As  for  the  city 
of  Toulouse  and  the  whole  region,  the  inhabitants  gave  them- 
selves over  for  lost,  and  expected  nothing  less  than  that  their 
fair  fields  would  become  a  prey  to  the  victorious  Huguenots.' 

'  Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  ii.  350.  This  writer  exaggerates  the  duration  of  the 
struggle,  while  Davila,  379,  380,  who  makes  it  last  but  three  days,  understates 
it.  M.  Berger  de  Xivrey,  who  gives  a  letter  of  Henry  written  before  the 
smoke  of  battle  was  well  over  (Lettres  missives,  i.  302,  303),  shows  from  Fau- 
rin's  journal,  that  it  extended  four  days,  from  Saturday,  May  28th,  to  Tuesday, 
May  31st,  inclusive.  See  also  Lestoile,  i.  124 ;  Sully,  i.  7G,  etc.  ;  De  Thou,  vi. 
(book  72)  5,  6. 

An  interesting  letter  of  Montmorency  (Damville)  to  the  king,  written  from 
Pezenas,  June  12,  1580,  gives  a  vivid  impression  of  the  amazement  and  con- 
sternation of  the  Roman  Catholic  party  at  this  brilliant  affair.    All  efforts  to 


208 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.      Cu.  HI. 


When  experienced  generals  surveyed  tlie  -whole  field  of  opera- 
tions iu  Southern  France,  and  reflected  upon  the  straits  to 
which  the  royal  troops  were  reduced  through  lack  of  that 
money  which  Henry  of  Yalois  chose  to  expend  upon  his  pleas- 
ures rather  than  in  carrying  on  the  war,  they  trembled  for  the 
future.  It  seemed,  indeed,  as  if  the  misery  of  France  could  go 
to  no  farther  length.  In  addition  to  the  curse  of  war,  heaven 
Ravages  of  had  Sent  another  scourge  not  less  difficult  to  bear, 
the  plague.  rji|^g  plaguc,  wliicli  SO  frequently  made  its  appearance 
about  this  time,  raged  in  different  parts  of  the  kingdom,  but 
had  chosen  Paris  for  its  especial  seat.  The  number  of  vic- 
tims for  the  year  was,  as  usual,  variously  estimated.  A  news- 
letter carried  it  as  high  as  one  hundred  and  twenty  to  one 
hundred  and  forty  thousand  persons.  A  more  moderate  and 
probably  more  correct  account  made  it  reach  the  figure  of 
thirty  thousand  for  the  capital  and  its  suburbs.  All  that  could 
leave  deserted  the  doomed  city.  For  the  space  of  six  months 
the  profitable  stream  of  strangers  from  all  parts  of  Chi-istendom 
which  was  wont  to  pour  in  altogether  failed.  The  poverty- 
stricken  artisans,  cut  off  from  their  ordinary  means  of  gaining 
a  livelihood,  were  likely  to  die  of  hunger  A  sight  never  be- 
fore seen  attracted  the  notice  of  the  curious — numbers  of  work- 
men, upon  whom  time  hung  heavily  because  they  had  absolutely 
nothing  to  do,  playing  at  games  of  quoits  on  the  Pont  Xotre 
Dame  and  in  other  places  most  noted  for  the  busy  transactions 
of  commerce.' 

Despite,  however,  the  brilliant  success  of  the  King  of  Xa- 


relieve  Cahors  were  futile.  "  Tousjours  ce  a  est&  en  vain,  et  ceste  ladite  ville 
prise,  perdue,  saccagee  et  ruynee.  EUe  est  de  si  grande  iroportance  que  en- 
cores qu  elle  ne  soit  en  ce  gouvernement,  ains  en  celle  de  Mr.  de  Mar.  de 
Biron,  la  ville  de  Tlioulouse,  du  ressort  de  laquelle  elle  est,  et  tout  ce  quartier 
la  en  [est]  devenu  si  effraye  qu'ilz  peusent  que  tout  est  perdu  et  en  proye." 
Loutchitzky,  Documents  iuedits,  135. 

'  Lestoile  (imder  date  of  July,  1580),  i.  125.  See,  too,  Memoires  de  Claude 
Haton,  ii.  1013  ;  and  "  Copie  d'une  missive  envoyee  de  Paris  a  Lyon,  par  un 
Quidam  a  son  bon  amy,  contenant  nouvelle  de  la  sante  et  du  nombre  des 
inorts  de  la  contagion,  audict  lieu  et  cite  de  Paris.  A  Lyon,  1580,''  reprinted 
in  Cimber  et  Danjou,  Archives  curieuses,  ix.  321-326.  Haton  notes,  two 
years  later  (ii.  1081),  that  in  a  certain  village  near  Provius  almost  one-half 
of  the  population  had  died  of  the  plague. 


1580. 


THE  PEACE  OF  FLEIX. 


209 


varre's  attack  upon  Caliors,  and  notwithstanding  the  inroads 
of  destructive  pestilence,  the  affairs  of  the  Protestants  did  not 
prosper.  The  king's  counter  declaration,  of  the  third  of  June, 
wlierein  he  professed  his  firm  purpose  to  maintain  his  edicts, 
and  promised  protection  to  all  Protestants  that  should  remain 
quietly  in  their  homes,  had  its  desired  eifect  of  weakening  those 
that  had  taken  arms  under  Henry  of  Isavarre.'  Moreover, 
each  of  the  three  armies  set  on  foot  by  the  king  obtained  great 
advantages.  The  army  which  was  intrusted  to  Marshal  Biron 
Success  of  the  I'^duced  a  number  of  Huguenot  strongholds  in  Guy- 
royai  arms,  enne,  and  surprised  the  town  of  Mont  de  Marsan,  a 
place  of  importance  belonging  to  the  King  of  Navarre.  The 
second  army,  under  Charles,  Duke  of  Mayenne,  was  so  fortu- 
nate as  to  check  the  progress  of  Lesdiguieres  in  Dauphiny,  and 
to  take  by  assault  the  town  of  Mure  (in  the  present  department 
of  Isere),  the  sole  remaining  place  in  Lesdiguieres's  possession. 
The  third  army,  under  command  of  the  newly  created  Marshal 
Matignon,  after  a  vigorous  siege,  reduced  La  Fere,  in  Picardy, 
in  the  absence  of  the  Prince  of  Conde,  who  had  gone  to  Ger- 
many in  the  vain  hope  of  obtaining  fresh  assistance  from  the 
Protestant  princes  of  the  empire.^ 

In  these  circumstances  there  was  little  to  encourage  the 
King  of  Navarre  to  continue  the  war  he  had  so  rashly  be- 
gun, and  in  the  prosecution  of  which  he  had  met  with  little 
support  from  his  fellow  Huguenots.  It  was  time  that  the  voice 
of  those  that  insisted  upon  peace  should  make  itself  heard.  The 
Peace  confer-  I'^sult  was  a  couferencc  held  at  Fleix,  a  castle  of  Peri- 
enceatFieix.  gord,  conveuiently  situated  between  the  territories 
held  by  the  contending  parties.  The  King  of  France,  him- 
self by  no  means  averse  to  peace,  welcomed  the  suggestions 

'  Supra,  p.  202,  note. 
See  a  sketch  of  these  military  operations  in  De  Thou,  vi.  (book  73)  11, 
etc.  I  cannot  forbear  expressing  my  profound  astonishment  at  M.  Drion's 
remark  (Histoire  chronologique,  i.  152)  :  "C'est  en  vain  que  le  roi  de  France 
oppose  trois  armees,  commandees  par  ses  mignons,  aux  Huguenots,  victorieux 
sur  tons  les  points."  De  Thou  (vi.  20)  characterizes  the  struggle  in  these  few 
words:  "Les  armes  des  Protestants  ayant  ete  malheureuses  presque  partout." 
Moreover,  what  does  M.  Drion  mean  by  tlie  term  "mignons,"  as  applied  to 
Marshals  Biron  and  Matignon,  and  the  Duke  of  Mayenne,  Guise's  brother  V 
Vol.  I.— 14 


210 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.       Ch.  III. 


of  his  brother  Aiijou.  This  fickle  prince  had  been,  in  connec- 
tion with  Margaret  of  Valois,  a  principal  instigator  of  the  need- 
less war.  Now  that  his  mind  liad  become  inflamed  with  the 
desire  to  obtain  a  crown  in  the  Netherlands,  he  was  even  more 
anxious  to  allay  than  he  had  been  to  promote  civil  discord  in 
his  native  land.  lie  came  in  pei'son  to  t'leix,  to  hasten  the  de- 
liberations which,  so  far  as  the  royal  side  was  concerned,  were 
entrusted  to  the  Duke  of  JVIontpensier,  to  M.  de  Bellievre,  and 
to  Marshal  Cosse. 

The  treaty  of  Fleix,  which  was  the  issue  of  the  conference, 
was,  in  the  main,  little  more  than  a  re-affirmation  of  the  treaty 
of  Poitiers,  as  modified  by  the  secret  articles  of  Bergerac  and 
the  provisions  agreed  upon  at  Nerac.  If  adding  oath  to  oath 
could  effect  anything  in  the  way  of  securing  the  perpetuity  of 
the  compact  between  the  crown  and  its  Huguenot  subjects, 
then  certainly  this  treaty,  containing  detailed  prescriptions  that 
all  the  most  important  personages  of  the  realm  should  swear 
to  observe  it,  from  the  reigning  monarch,  his  mother,  and  his 
brother,  the  King  of  Navarre  and  the  Prince  of  Conde,  through 
all  the  gradations  of  dignity  down  to  the  seneschals,  the  pro- 
vosts and  maires  of  towns  and  cities,  would  have  stood  a  fair 
chance  of  enduring  for  all  time.  And  if  threats  directed 
against  the  partisans  of  unlawful  associations  and  fraternities 
could  avail  in  opposition  to  the  active  efforts  of  secret  conspira- 
tors, the  "  Holy  League  "  must  have  died  beyond  the  possibility 
of  future  resurrection.  And  if  words  and  assurances  were  suf- 
ficient to  meet  the  case  of  the  distressed  Huguenots,  their 
chronic  complaints  seemed  likely  to  be  silenced  for  many  a  year 
to  come.  They  were  guaranteed  the  liberty  to  reside  anj'where 
in  France  without  molestation.  The  Romish  clergy  were  en- 
joined from  indulging  in  discourses  from  the  pulpit  tending  to 
create  sedition  and  disturbance.  Nowhere  were  Protestants  to 
be  compelled  to  contribute  to  the  expense  of  repairing  churches 
belonging  to  an  opposite  faith,  or  when  ill,  to  listen  to  the  ex- 
hortations of  ecclesiastics  whom  they  detested.  The  Gordian 
knot  of  the  tapestry  and  decorations  on  Corpus  Cliristi  day  and 
other  great  festivals  of  the  Church  of  Rome  was  cut  by  an  arti- 
cle limiting  the  obligation  of  the  Huguenot  householder  to  a 


1580. 


THE  PEACE  OP  FLEIX. 


211 


passive  consent  should  the  public  authorities  choose  to  place 
the  hated  emblems  of  joy  upon  the  front  of  his  residence.'  The 
rights  of  the  Protestants  to  certain  places  for  public  worship, 
to  convenient  grounds  for  the  burial  of  their  dead,  and  to  impar- 
tial courts  of  justice,  were  solemnly  re-alBrmed.  Even  in  the 
matter  of  the  cities  of  refuge  little  change  was  made.  The 
cities  temporarily  intrusted  to  the  Huguenots  by  the  articles 
of  Nerac  were  to  be  restored  to  the  king— those  in  Guyenne, 
within  two  months,  those  in  Languedoc  thirty  days  later.  In 
case  of  the  other  towns,  which  the  King  of  Xavarre  engaged 
to  give  up  at  the  expiration  of  the  stipulated  term  of  six  years, 
no  modification  of  the  existing  agreement  was  made  save  the 
substitution  of  Figeac  and  Monsegur  for  La  Rcolle." 


'  "  Et  ne  seront  contraints  tendre  et  parer  le  devant  de  lenrs  maisons  anx 
jours  et  fetes  ordonnez  pour  ce  faire  :  mais  seulement  souffrir  qu'ils  soient  ten- 
dus  et  parez  par  I'autorite  des  officiers  des  lieux. '' 

-The  articles  of  Fleix,  described  in  the  title  as  "  le  lieu  de  Flex  pres  de  la 
villa  de  Sainte-Foy,"  are  given  in  Du  Mont,  Corps  diplomatique,  v.  381-4,  in 
Benoist,  Histoire  de  I'Edit  de  Nantes,  i.  (preuves)  54,  etc.  The  first  forty- 
six  articles  were  signed  by  Anjou  and  Navarre,  at  Fleix,  November  2(),  1580, 
and  the  forty-seventh  article  at  Coutras,  December  16.  Henry  III.  ratified 
them  by  his  signature,  at  Blois,  ten  days  later. 


212 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.       Ch.  IV. 


CHAPTER  lY. 

THE  UNCERTAIN  PEACE,  PROTESTANT  FEDERATION  AND  THE 
PARISIAN  LEAGUE. 

For  nearly  eighteen  years  had  France  been  a  prey  to  civil 
contention.  For  so  long  a  time  the  Protestants  had  stood  with 
arms  in  their  hands  for  the  defence  of  the  lives  of  their  wives 
and  children,  and  had  struggled  to  win  a  boon  more  precious 
than  any  human  life — the  undisputed  right  to  worship  God 
Comparative  accordiug  to  the  prescriptions  of  a  Word  regarded  by 
quiet  returns,  them  as  of  Supreme  authority.  There  had,  indeed, 
been  intervals  of  nominal  peace,  but  they  had  been  brief, 
treacherous,  and  often  more  dangerous  than  the  periods  of  open 
hostilities.  The  fitful  dream  had  generally  been  disturbed  by 
rude  alarms  of  coming  war,  by  portents  of  approaching  dis- 
aster, or  by  tidings  of  murderous  assaults  actually  perpetrated 
upon  unoffending  men  and  women  engaged  in  divine  service. 
The  hope  of  quiet  and  of  justice  at  the  hands  of  the  king  and 
his  ministers  had  been  so  frequently  disappointed  as  almost  to 
give  place  to  a  settled  feeling  of  despair.  Now,  at  last,  the 
prospect  seemed  to  brighten.  Peace  was  secured  for  a  time. 
ISTeither  party  would  be  likely  to  disturb  it.  The  monarch's 
Roman  Catholic  advisers  had  learned  fi-om  the  incidents  of  the 
past  few  years  that  it  was  vain  to  expect  the  extermination  of  a 
religious  party  that  had  long  since  taken  form  and  consistency, 
and  had  been  welded  together  by  the  very  force  of  the  hard 
blows  received — a  party  tliat  was  even  beginning  to  accept  as 
a  badge  of  honor  the  designation  first  given  as  a  term  of  insult, 
and  whose  members  were  proud  to  designate  themselves  as 
Huguenots  because  the  name  recalled  glorious  scenes  in  their 
heroic  and  protracted  struggle.'    The  Protestants,  on  their 

'  One  of  the  earliest  evidences  of  attachment  to  the  name  once  strongly  re- 
pudiated is  found  in  a  letter  of  Henry  of  Navarre,  July  24,  1580,  wherein  he 


1580. 


THE  UNCERTAIN  PEACE. 


213 


part,  had  about  readied  the  conviction  that  any  attempt  to  secure 
universal  toleration  for  their  religion  was,  under  the  present 
circumstances,  a  hopeless  undertaking.  Moreover,  they  were 
thoroughl}'  exhausted  by  the  expense  and  fatigue  of  war. 
There  were,  indeed,  complaints  against  the  precipitancy  of  the 
King  of  Navarre  in  concluding  a  struggle  wliich  he  had  as  pre- 
cipitately begun.    But  Henry  had  much  to  say  in 

Henry  of  Na-  ,  . ,  .  tc  t      i      i         .     i  ■ 

vaires  justi-  his  owu  justiiication.  It  he  had  acted  m  the  matter 
with  the  co-operation  of  merely  a  few  deputies  from 
the  Protestants  of  Southwestern  France,  it  was  because  his 
associates  in  Dauphiny  and  Lower  Languedoc,  as  well  as  in  the 
north  of  the  kingdom,  had  neglected  to  send  envoys  after  re- 
ceiving timely  notice,  or  had  been  prevented  by  the  dangers  of 
the  way.  As  to  the  treaty  itself,  so  far  from  being  ruinous, 
it  was  the  very  salvation  of  the  Protestant  churches.  "  This 
peace,"  he  wrote  to  his  old  friend  and  counsellor  the  refoi-mer 
Beza,  "  is  not  to  our  disadvantage.  It  ought  to  be  received 
and  welcomed  by  all  for  the  re-establishment  of  our  religion.  I 
have  been  warned  by  many  of  our  ministers  that  it  would  be 
better  for  us  to  return  again  to  the  fires  of  persecution,  which 
would  tend  more  to  our  upbuilding,  than  that  through  a  con- 
tinuance of  war  we  sliould  see  all  piety  and  discipline  tram- 
pled under  foot.  "VVe  should,  they  say,  have  been  satisfied  with 
far  less  than  the  terms  conceded  to  us  rather  than  not  secure 
peace." ' 

True,  the  objection  was  in  everyone's  mouth,  in  answer  to  the 
complaints  of  the  Bearnese  prince,  that  his  own  court  afforded 
the  most  signal  instances  of  irregularity,  and  that  a  reformation 
of  manners  and  morals  could  begin  nowhere  more  appropri- 
ately than  in  his  own  life.    The  candid  reformer  to  whom  he 

recommends  a  Protestant  gentlemen  as  one  "that  is  a  very  zealous  servant  of 
mine  and  an  old  Huguenot— qui  m'est  fort  affectioune  serviteur  et  ancient 
huguenot."    Lettres  missives,  i.  300. 

'  Cestepaix  n'est  point  desavantageuse  ;  il  estbesoiug  que  chascan  la  rec^oive 
et  embrasse  pour  le  restablissement  de  nostre  religion  ;  estant  adverty  de  plusi- 
eurs  de  nos  ministres,  qu'il  vaudroit  mieulx  retourner  encore  aux  feux  qui 
servoient  plus  a  edification,  que,  par  une  continuation  de  guerre,  voir  toute 
pietc  et  discipline  mise  dessoubs  les  pieds,"  etc.  Henry  of  Navarre  to  Beza, 
end  of  November,  1580.    Lettres  missives,  i.  330-333. 


214 


THE  HUGUENOTS  A>"D  HEXRY  OF  XAVAERE.       Ch.  IV. 


bad  written  appears  not  to  have  been  slow  in  calling  bis  atten- 
tion to  tbis  important  fact;  for  altbougb  bis  letter  does  not 
His  own  seem  to  bave  been  preserved,  we  have  Henry's  reply 
to  it,  and  can  form  a  tolerably  correct  idea  of  tbe 
wbolesome  but  unpalatable  truths  it  contained.  However,  it 
was  a  part  of  the  easy  good  nature  of  the  King  of  ]S^avarre  that 
he  rarely  resented  sound  ad\ice,  even  (as,  it  must  reluctantly 
be  admitted,  was  generally  tbe  case)  when  be  took  good  care 
not  to  act  upon  it.  In  tbe  present  instance  his  amiable  and 
tlattering  assurances  to  Calvin's  successor  were  characteristic 
enough  to  deserve  a  place  here.  "  I  beg  you,"  be  said,  to 
notify  me  on  all  occasions,  and  to  speak  to  me  frankly  and 
freely.  If  I  do  not  profit,  as  I  should,  by  the  holy  admonitions 
given  to  me,  at  least  you  will  know  that  I  do  not  reject  them." 
As  to  his  household,  [Xavarre  confessed,  in  tbe  same  letter,  that, 
like  everything  else,  it  shared  in  "  tbe  perversity  of  tbe  times," 
and  he  declared  that  it  was  one  of  his  objects  in  securing  peace 
that  he  might  be  able  to  give  bis  attention  to  setting  it  right. 
It  is  almost  needless  to  say  that  this  seems  to  have  been  the  last 
the  king  thought  of  tbe  worthy  reformer's  suggestion.'  The 
court  of  Henry  remained  about  what  it  had  been.  Henry  him- 
self was  neither  more  nor  less  addicted  to  the  pursuit  of  pleas- 
m-e  and  to  the  gallantry  that  bad  for  some  time  been  nearly 
as  much  in  fashion  in  2serae  as  in  Paris. 

For  almost  five  years  from  the  conclusion  of  the  treaty  of 
Fleix  tbe  Huguenots  enjoyed  an  immunity  from  open  attacks 
on  the  part  of  their  enemies,  which,  if  it  did  not  constitute  so 
profound  a  peace  as  the  remarks  of  tbe  historian  De  Thou 
would  lead  the  casual  reader  to  imagine,"  yet  presented  a  de- 


'  Letter  of  Henry  of  Navarre  to  Beza,  February  1,  1581,  Lettres  missives, 
i.  351-354.  Both  from  this  letter  and  from  that  quoted  above  it  is  clear  that 
Navarre  highly  valued  the  reformer's  friendship,  and  earnestly  desired  his 
good  offices  with  the  French  Protestants  as  well  as  with  the  count  palatine 
and  others.  In  the  postscript  he  wrote:  '' Je  voos  prie  m' aimer  tousjours, 
vous  asseurant  que  ne  scauriez  despartir  de  vostre  amitie  a  prince  qui  en  soit 
moings  ingrat,  et  continuer  vos  bonnes  admonitions  comme  si  vous  esties  mon 
pere." 

-  "  Ledit  ayant  done  ete  publie,  la  France  jouit  pendant  pres  de  cinq  ans 
d'une  paix  profonde,  soit  parce  que  la  guerre  etrangere  avoit  detoume  la  cause 


1581. 


THE  UNCERTAIN  PEACE. 


215 


cided  contrast  to  their  previous  condition.  Into  the  causes  of 
this  cahn  and  of  the  political  movement  tending  to  a  new  and 
moi-e  dangerous  outbreak,  which  took  place  undercover  of  peace, 
we  must  presently  inquire.  Meanwhile,  it  will  be  well  to  glance 
for  a  moment  at  the  internal  concerns  of  the  Huguenots. 

The  fair  promises  of  the  monarch,  even  with  the  guarantee 
of  the  great  seal  of  state  affixed  to  them,  did  not  throw  the  vet- 
erans of  so  many  years  off  their  guard,  or  induce  them  to  relax 
their  preparations  for  the  possible  contingency  of  renewed  hos- 
tilities.   It  was  among  the  first  steps  of  the  Kino-  of 

Politiealas-  -^r  i  •      a  ^  nr 

Bembly  of    JNavarre  to  convene  at  JVlontauban,  m  April  and  May, 

Montauban.      ^^^^  fiT-> 

I08I,  one  01  those  political  assenibnes  or  the  rrotes- 
tants  of  France,  which,  indeed,  must  be  carefully  distinguished 
from  their  ecclesiastical  bodies  or  synods,  but  which  became  more 
and  more  important,  as  time  elapsed,  in  determining  their  re- 
ligious as  well  as  their  civil  interests.  The  Assembly  of  Mont- 
auban had  been  summoned  without  the  consent  of  the  King  of 
France  ;  but  Henry  the  Third  through  M.  de  Bellievre,  a  mem- 
ber of  his  privy  council,  as  well  as  by  letter,  gave  his  approval 
of  the  meeting,  upon  the  condition  that  its  energies  should  be 
directed  to  a  firm  establishment  of  peace.  Isor  did  the  assem- 
bly decline  the  condition.  It  is  certainly  significant  of  the 
situation  of  the  Huguenots  at  this  time,  that  the  thirty-four 
deputies  of  whom  the  body  was  composed  were  not  chosen, 
according  to  custom,  by  the  provincial  political  assemblies,  but 
by  the  provincial  synods,  and  that  nearly  one-third  of  the  whole 
number  were  ministers  of  the  gospel.  Xor  is  it  less  worthy  of 
notice  that  the  assembly  betrayed,  in  respect  to  the  King  of 
Navarre,  a  certain  degree  of  distrust,  by  confirming  and  elab- 
orating a  system  of  checks  upon  his  authority.  The 

Checks  upon  o        »/  1  «/ 

the  uuthority  "  Protector  of  the  Chui'ches  " — for  so  was  he  offi- 

of  the  *' Pro-      .ni.  i  .-11.11-1 

tcctor  of  the  cially  designated — was  provided  with  a  body  of  four 

Churches "  *^ 

"  ordinary "  counsellors,  each  of  whom  was  to  be 
selected  and  supported  by  a  well-defined  constituency.  If  he 
thought  fit  to  add  two  more  counsellors,  these  were  likewise 


de  nos  maux,  soit  parce  que  la  cour  n'etoit  occuqee  que  de  ses  plaisirs."  De 
Thou,  vi.  (book  72)  116. 


216 


THE  HTGUESOTS  AND  HEXRT  OF  XAVARRE.       Ch.  IV. 


to  be  chosen  by  the  churches.'  Thus  were  the  Protestants  not 
only  to  enjov  the  best  means  of  information  respecting  the 
conduct  of  affaii's,  but  by  their  representatives  to  exercise  an 
important  influence  in  shapmg  the  course  of  events.  The  pru- 
dent men  who  devised  the  scheme  were  pardonable  if  they  re- 
membered that  Henry  of  2s  avarre  not  only  had  shown  unmis- 
takable evidence  of  a  self-will  that  might  some  day  give  trouble 
to  his  associates  in  arms,  bnt  had  once  changed  his  religion. 
It  is  possible,  moreover,  that  the  ease  with  which  he  could,  on 
occasion,  publish  to  the  world  his  wUKn^ness  to  be  "  instructed," 
in  case  he  were  in  error  in  matters  of  religion,  had  not  alto- 
gether escaped  the  notice  of  shrewd  men,  victims  of  repeated 
acts  of  treachery,  in  whose  characters  a  consequent  suspicious- 
ness was  perhaps  a  venial  fault. 

In  the  Assembly  of  Montauban  the  Huguenots  adopted  a 
form  of  oath  by  wliich  Hemy  of  Xavarre  and  his  namesake 
Conde,  as  well  as  the  deputies  of  the  churches,  while  professing 
their  loyalty  and  subjection  to  the  king,  bound  themselves  to 
remain  united  "  not  only  in  the  same  doctrine  and  ecclesiastical 
discipline,  conformably  to  the  general  confession  of  faith  of  the 
churches  long  since  published,  but  also  in  all  that  might  de- 
pend upon  their  mutual  and  lawful  preservation."  They  prom- 
ised, moreover,  to  do  nothing  save  by  command  of  the  King  of 
Xavarre,  with  the  counsel  and  advice  of  the  churches,  "  so  as 
to  refer  all  matters  to  the  authoi'ity  that  is  due  to  him  and  to 
the  common  consent  of  all."  In  signal  contrast  with  the  fear- 
ful imprecations  of  excommunication  and  eternal  damnation 
contained  in  the  oath  of  the  "  Holy  League,"  the  Protestant 
oath  confined  itself  to  the  simple  declaration  :  Those  that 
shall  do  otherwise  will  be  disavowed."  ' 


'  Anquez.  30-33.  As  indicative  of  the  distribution  of  the  Protestants  in 
France,  I  notice  that  the  first  counsellor  was  to  be  elected  bv  those  of  Lan- 
guedoc,  the  second  by  Dauphinr  and  Provence :  while  Brittany,  Touraine, 
Maine,  Vendomois,  La  Eochelle,  Poitou,  Saintonge.  Aunis.  and  Angoomois 
united  in  choosing  the  third,  and  fourteen  provinces  of  the  north,  east,  and 
centre  of  the  kingdom  joined  in  the  selection  of  the  fourth.  The  two  addi- 
tional counsellors  were  to  represent  Guyenne  alone. 

-  "  Formulaire  du  serment  d'union  adopte  par  rassemblee  de  Montauban, 
ilai,  1581."   Anquez,  App.,  452,  453. 


1581. 


THE  UNCERTAIN  PEACE. 


217 


A  few  weeks  only  had  elapsed  since  the  adjournment  of  the 
Political  Assembly  of  Montauban  when  the  Eleventh  National 
National  syn-  ^ynod  met  in  the  city  of  La  Rochelle.  If  that  nation 
cheiTe  ''june"  -^^  ^^^PPJ  "^vhose  annals  are  brief  and  monotonous,  this 
1581.  '  ecclesiastical  gathering,  in  whose  minutes  no  record 
occurs  of  serious  differences  of  opinion  and  no  hints  are  given 
of  acrimonious  debate,  must  be  regarded  as  indicating  a  goodly 
prevalence  of  harmony  and  concord.'  The  deputies  reported, 
and  praised  God  for  the  fact,  that  there  was  no  one  in  the 
churches  they  represented  that  rejected  or  combated  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Confession  of  Faith.  The  canons  adopted  were 
few  and  of  slight  importance.  The  change  that  has  come  over 
public  opinion  respecting  the  wisdom  of  church  laws  regulating 
the  style  of  dress  in  which  a  member  can  innocently  indulge 
may  lead  some  readers  to  condemn  as  puerile  the  detailed  pro- 
hibition not  only  of  immodest  apparel,  but  of  such  garments  as 
"  bear  marks  of  a  too  ostentatious  and  indecent  novelty."  "  Oth- 
ers may  be  amused  at  the  evident  futility  of  the  ban  laid  by 
successive  synods  upon  the  irrepressible  and  ever-increasing 
tendency  even  of  the  Protestants  of  France  to  indulge  in  the 
frivolous  diversion  of  the  dance.  But  every  candid  and  im- 
partial person  must  look  with  admiration  at  the  clauses  which 
in  simple  language  provide  for  the  careful  preservation  of  the 
records  of  the  memorable  events  in  the  fortunes  of  the  chm-ches 
since  the  first  of  the  cruel  wars  waged  against  them,  and  not  less 
at  the  provisions  that  exhibit  the  interest  felt  in  the  promotion 
of  sound  and  thorough  education  by  enjoining  upon  every  "  col- 
loque  "  or  presbytery  to  maintain  at  least  one  "  poor  scholar  " 
during  his  studies  for  the  sacred  ministry.'  Rarely  has  a  per- 
secuted people,  long  harassed  by  the  enemies  of  its  faith,  made 


'  The  only  thing  approaching  asperity  is  a  memorandum  of  the  surprise  of 
the  synod  that  the  deputies  from  Dauphiny,  Provence,  Forct,  and  Auvergne, 
having  all  failed  to  be  present,  "  have  not  even  had  the  civility  to  make  any 
excuse  by  letters." 

"  Ceux  qui  out  quelques  marques  notoires  d  impudicite,  de  dissolution 
ou  de  nouveaute  trop  fastueuse  et  indecente,  comme  sont  les  Fards,  Plissures, 
Houpes.  Lardoires,  Guiquerolets,  Seins  ouverts,  Vertugalins,  et  autres  choses 
semblables." 

3  Aymon,  Tous  les  Synodes,  1.  140-154. 


218 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.       Ch.  IV. 


greater  sacrifices  to  secure  for  itself  the  unspeakable  blessing  of 
competent  religious  instructors. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  strenuous  discipline  laid 
down  by  the  synods  was  enforced  without  opposition,  nor  that 
Conflict  be-  ^^^^       entire  absence  of  conflict  between  the 

tween  the  civil  and  ecclcsiastical  authorities  within  the  bosom 
ciesiastical     of  the  Ilugueuot  party  itself.    In  Montauban  itself, 

authorities.  -  it-.  •  •   •      i  i 

pre-eminentlj'  a  r^rotestant  city,  the  municipal  records 
show  that  the  ministers  and  the  consuls  had,  this  very  year,  a 
decided  struggle  in  which  both  parties  insisted  strenuously  upon 
their  rights.  The  ministers  from  the  pulpit  denounced  a  book 
printed  in  Montauban  as  unsound  in  its  teachings,  and  bade  the 
faithful  neither  to  purchase  nor  to  read  it.  The  consuls,  doubtless 
upon  the  complaint  of  the  printer,  declared  the  act  of  the  min- 
isters illegal  and  in  direct  violation  of  the  fourteenth  article  of 
the  treaty  of  pacification,  which  confided  the  duty  of  superintend- 
ing the  matter  of  printing  simply  to  the  magistrates.  It  would 
appear  that  the  consuls  found  other  grounds  of  complaint  be- 
sides this.  The  ministers  had  taken  occasion  to  denounce  in 
round  terms  the  prevalent  extravagance  in  clothing  and  head- 
dress ;  and  when  called  upon  to  justify  their  conduct  had  ap- 
pealed to  the  canons  of  the  Jsational  Synod  of  La  Eochelle. 
Thereupon  the  consuls  connnanded  that  the  ministers  be  sum- 
moned, censured,  and  forbidden  from  henceforth  encroaching 
upon  the  functions  of  the  civil  magistrates.  Moreover,  they 
were  to  be  required  to  produce  the  record  of  the  action  of  the 
synod,  in  order  that,  after  an  inspection  thereof,  "the  magis- 
trates and  the  church  might  keep  step  together  and  not  infringe 
on  each  other's  rights."  "What  further  came  of  this  particular 
dispute  does  not  appear.' 

It  is  certain,  however,  that  the  ministers  never  renounced,  in 


'  "  Les  articles  ducinode  "  were  to  be  exhibited  "  pour  veoirsiles  retranche- 
mens  des  chevelures  et  abilhemens  y  est  coutenu  ''  aud  "  pour  veoir  ce  qii'a 
este  arreste  par  iceluy  sur  la  police  ecclesiasticque,  afin  que  les  Magistratz  et 
I'Eglise  marclient  de  mesme  pied,  sans  entrepreiidre  rien  I'ung  sur  I'autre." 
Deliberations  du  conseil  de  la  ville  de  Montauban,  October  28.  30,  31,  et  No- 
vember 7,  1581,  in  Loutcliitzky,  Documents  iuedits  pour  servir  a  I'liistoire  de 
la  Reforme  et  de  la  Ligue,  177-180. 


15S1. 


THE  UNCERTAIN  PEACE. 


210 


favor  of  the  civil  authorities,  the  right,  believed  by  them  to  be 
inherent  in  the  consistory,  or  church  session,  of  exercising  a 
wholesome  restraint  over  the  tendency  of  the  gentler  sex  to  in- 
dulge in  sinful  conformity  to  the  frivolous  pomps  and  vanities 
of  the  world.  It  made  little  difference  who  the  culprit  was ; 
the  noble  fared  no  better  than  the  peasant.  Three  years  later 
a  notable  struggle  took  place,  in  which  the  parties  were  no  other 
than  Charlotte  Arbaleste,  the  pious  wife  of  Henry  of  j^avarre's 
learned  and  trusty  counsellor,  Duplessis  Mornay,  on  the  one 
side,  and  the  distinguished  Huguenot  pastor  of  Montaubau, 
Michel  Bcrauld,  on  the  other. 

The  divine  was  the  same  who  was  elected  moderator  of  the 
Thirteenth  Tsational  Synod  of  the  French  Protestant  Church,  at 
Montauban,  in  1594,  the  first  ecclesiastical  convocation  of  the 
kind  held  during  the  reign  of  Henry  the  Fourth.'  But  long 
Ijefore  that  time  he  had  come  to  be  regarded  as  the  leadino- 
theologian  of  the  southern  part  of  the  kingdom.  Catharine  de' 
Medici,  being  at  Kerac  in  1579,  expressed  some  curiosity  to 
see  him,  and,  when  Berauld  was  presented  to  liei',  informed 
him  that  she  was  delighted  to  find  him  quite  different  in  appear- 
ance from  what  she  had  been  led  to  expect.  She  had  been 
told,  she  said,  that  his  face  was  black  and  hideous  as  that  of  a 
devil,  and  that  he  and  his  colleagues  were  denounced  as  the  ac- 
cursed cause  of  all  the  disoi-der  reigning  in  the  province.  To 
which  the  intrepid  Huguenot,  without  changing  countenance, 
replied :  "  Madam,  I  am  such  in  body  and  in  looks  as  it  has 
pleased  God  to  make  me — not  hideous  nor  terrible,  as  I  have 
been  pictured  to  your  majesty.  And  since  you  have  done  me 
this  honor  to  send  for  me,  I  have  not  been  willing  to  fail  in  my 
duty,  being  quite  ready  to  answer  the  calumnious  reports  set  in 
circulation  by  my  enemies  against  my  colleagues  and  myself,  who 
pray  to  God  niglit  and  day  for  the  health  and  prosperity  of  your 
majesties,  and  who  in  our  churches  preach  only  the  respect  and 
obedience  that  is  due  to  them,  according  to  God's  command."  ^ 

It  so  happened  that  Michel  Berauld  had  felt  himself  called 
upon,  shortly  before  the  coming  of  the  family  of  Duplessis 


Aymon,  Tous  les  Synodes,  i.  173. 
Mumoires  de  Jacques  Gaclies,  264,  265. 


220 


THE  HUGUENOTS  A^*D  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE       Ch.  IV. 


Mornay  to  Montauban,  to  denounce  from  the  pulpit  the  fantastic 
mode  of  wearing  the  hair  lately  introduced  by  the  ladies,  and, 
in  particular,  the  extravagant  use  of  an  elaborate  head-dress, 
much  in  vogue  elsewhere,  wherein  a  frame-work  of  wire  was 
employed  for  the  purpose  of  giving  greater  effect.  Some  ladies 
had  even  been  excluded  from  the  Lord's  Supper  because  they 
would  not  take  an  oath  never  again  to  indulge  in  such  finerv, 
nor  to  permit  their  daughters  to  commit  the  like  indiscretion. 
It  may  well  be  imagined  that  the  arrival  of  so  prominent  a 
family  as  that  of  Duplessis  Mornay,  known  to  dress  according 
to  the  prevailing  fashion,  was  looked  upon  with  some  inter- 
est by  the  female  population  of  Moutauban.  But  Berauld  was 
equal  to  the  emergency.  In  fact,  not  only  did  he  refuse  to  fur- 
nish to  Madame  Duplessis  and  her  household  the  "marreaux" 
with  which,  according  to  a  usage  long  observed  in  the  Huguenot 
chui-ches,  every  communicant  was  requu-ed  to  provide  himself 
before  approaching  the  holy  table,'  but  he  induced  the  consistory 
of  his  church  to  make  a  formal  demand  that  the  lady  should 
"  remove  her  hair.''  Charlotte  Arbaleste,  however,  was  as 
determined  as  her  husband,  and  scarcely  less  ready  with  her 
pen.  Accordingly  she  declined  to  accede  to  the  summons,  al- 
leging that  her  attire  was  no  novelty.  She  had  worn  it  with- 
out reproach  for  the  past  fifteen  years.  During  this  time  she 
had  resided  within  the  bounds  of  many  of  the  chief  churches  of 
Germany,  England,  and  the  Xetherlands,  as  well  as  of  France. 
She  favored  her  opponents,  moreover,  with  a  long  and  detailed 
confession  of  her  faith,  and  a  protest  wherein  she  dwelt  much 


'The  "marreanx"  or  "  mereaux  "  (sometimes  called  "marrons")  were 
tokens  distributed  a  few  davs  in  advance  of  the  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per to  all  who,  in  view  of  their  correctness  of  belief  and  consistency  of  life, 
were  regarded  as  prepared  worthily  to  commune.  Thev  were  usually  round 
pieces  of  metal,  almost  always  of  lead,  much  resembling  small  medals  or  coins, 
and  generally  bore,  on  the  one  side,  the  initial  or  abbreviated  name  of  the 
church  by  which  they  were  given  and  a  chalice,  and,  on  the  other,  a  reference 
to  some  verse  of  the  Holy  Bible.  A  number  of  marreaux  have  been  described, 
and  a  few  reproduced  by  wood-cuts,  in  the  Bulletin  de  la  Soeiete  de  Thistoire 
du  Protestantisme  francais.  See  i.  139,  etc.,  ii.  13.  xxxii.  182.  Apparently 
the  oldest  of  the  extant  marreanx  do  not  go  back  of  the  seventeenth  century  ; 
many  of  them  belong  to  the  period  of  the  "  Desert." 


1581. 


THE  UNCERTAIN  PEACE. 


221 


upon  the  danger  of  imitating  the  Church  of  Rome  by  teaching 
for  doctrines  the  commandments  of  men,  triumphantly  calling 
attention  to  the  circumstance  that  in  no  passage  of  Holy  Script- 
ure could  any  reference  be  found  to  wii'e,  the  fruitful  source 
of  the  present  dispute.  But  neither  Madame  Duplessis  Mornay's 
coo;ent  aro;uments  nor  the  moderate  advice  of  such  disting-uished 
fellow-ministers  as  La  Roche  Chandieu  and  Serres  could  bend 
Berauld's  inflexible  views  of  a  pastor's  duty  to  his  fl.ock.  The 
practical  solution  of  the  trouble  was  found  in  the  step  taken  by 
Madame  Duplessis  Mornay  of  going,  two  days  before  Easter 
Sunday,  to  a  town,  three  leagues  distant  from  Montauban,. 
where  the  Huguenot  minister  believed,  with  her,  that  the  mode 
of  wearing  the  hair  is  not  an  essential  of  religion.' 

In  the  church  of  Cuq-Toulza  a  somewhat  similar  commotion 
had  a  different  result.  In  this  case  the  bone  of  contention  was 
not  a  lady's  coiffure,  but  the  no  less  obnoxious  farthingale. 
Here,  too,  the  offender  belonged  not  only  to  the  higher  ranks 
of  society,  but  to  the  most  pious  portion  of  the  communit}'. 
The  family  of  "  Madonne  "  de  Lamy  had  been  one  of  the  main- 
stays of  Protestantism  in  the  district,  and  among  its  earliest  ad- 
herents, ^^one  the  less  did  M.  de  Rogier,  when  he  undertook 
a  crusade  against  the  current  infractions  of  church  discipline, 
call  for  exemplary  censure  of  the  objectionable  article  of  apparel. 
In  the  end,  after  a  valiant  defence  of  her  rights,  Madonne  " 
de  Lamy,  less  courageous,  or  less  sure  of  support,  than  Madame 
Duplessis  Mornay,  saw  herself  compelled  to  yield  the  point,  and 
the  farthingale  was  consigned  to  merited  obscurity.'' 

More  frequently,  however,  the  complaints  came  from  the 
other  side.  Repeatedly  the  municipal  records  attest  that  the 
Ministerial  niiuistcrs  of  Moutaubau  called  attention  to  the  fact 
support.  t]ja^^  their  salaries,  very  modest  in  amount  at  best, 
were  many  months  in  arrears.'  At  length  they  inform  us 
that  Monsieur  Berauld,  minister  of  the  Word  of  God,  at  the 


'  See  the  long  account  of  this  incident  in  a  fragment  published  in  the 
Meraoires  de  Duplessis  Mornay,  ii.  487-514. 

Notice  sur  I'^Iglise  reformee  de  Cuq-Toulza,  in  Bulletin,  xxxi.  (1882)  123. 
Cuq-Toulza  is  a  small  town  forty  miles  southeast  of  Montauban. 

•'  N.  f/.,  under  the  dates  of  September  13,  1585,  and  April  17,  1586,  Loutch- 
itzky,  183,  187 


222 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.       Ch.  IV. 


consistory  meeting,  on  Wednesday  last,  reproached  the  church 
for  its  ingratitude  in  not  paying  him  his  salary,  and  took  formal 
leave.  The  consistory  offered  to  pay  him,  but  the  indignant 
pastor  persisted  in  his  determination.  It  fared  no  better  with 
the  council  of  the  King  of  Navarre,  which  represented  to  him, 
but  in  vain,  the  scandal  which  his  abrupt  departure  would  cause. 
Finally,  the  municipal  council  of  thirty  took  the  decisive  step 
of  deputing  Monsieur  de  Noalhons,  one  of  the  consuls,  with 
three  other  persons  of  influence.  They  were  commissioned  to 
wait  upon  Monsieur  Berauld  and  beg  him  not  to  abandon  his 
flock,  nor  to  deprive  it  of  the  spiritual  nourishment  he  had  been 
w^ont  to  give  to  it.  If  he  should  still  persist,  they  were  to  draw 
up  a  protest,  with  all  due  formality,  and  strive  in  every  way  to 
detain  him.'  He  must  certainly  have  been  of  a  very  obdurate 
disposition  whom  such  manifold  supplications  coiild  not  move. 

Once  more  a  l^ational  Synod  of  the  Protestants  was  held 
in  the  city  of  Vitre,  in  Brittany  (May,  1583).  The  only  impor- 
Nationai  taut  fruit  of  its  deliberations  was  that  the  Reformed 
\it°^  °May,  Churches  of  France  and  the  Netherlands  were  drawn 
1583.  more  closely  together  by  the  institution  of  a  system 

of  mutual  recognition  and  representation.  In  token  of  perfect 
accord,  the  members  of  the  synod  signed  their  names  to  the 
copy  of  the  Confession  of  Faith  and  the  Discipline  of  the  Low 
Countries  which  was  submitted  to  them,  and  the  Dutch  delegates 
in  turn  subscribed  the  formularies  of  the  French  Churches.^ 


'  Deliberations  dix  conseil,  etc.,  June  1,  1586,  Loutchitzky,  188,  189. 
Michel  Berauld  was  no  common  man.  He  was  of  the  best  representatives  of  that 
part  of  the  Huguenots  that  would  be  satisfied  with  nothing  short  of  the  most 
complete  recognition  of  their  religious  rights.  It  has  been  truly  said  of  him 
that,  from  1583  forward,  scarcely  an  event  of  importance  occurred  in  which 
lie  did  not  take  part.  He  remained  in  Montauban  as  pastor,  and,  from  the 
date  of  the  foundation  of  the  Academie  of  that  city  (1600),  as  theological  pro- 
fessor, till  his  death  (1611),  an  event  which  was  regarded  as  a  public  bereave- 
ment. He  enjoyed,  witli  the  celebrated  Daniel  Chamier  alone,  the  signal  dis- 
tinction of  having  been  called  to  be  moderator  of  not  less  than  three  National 
Synods— Montauban  (1594),  Montpellier  (1598),  and  La  Rochelle  (1C07).  See 
Haag,  La  France  protestaute,  i.  304-311  ;  Aymon,  Tous  les  Synodes,  i.  173, 
213,  296. 

'  Aymon,  i.  157. 


1583. 


THE  UNCERTAIN  PEACE. 


223 


It  was  the  last  time  for  many  a  year  that  the  Huguenots  were 
destined  to  meet  to  deliberate  respecting  questions  of  doctrine 
and  practice.  The  succeeding  eleven  years  were  to  be  a  blank 
in  their  ecclesiastical  annals.  The  clouds  of  war  were  already 
gathering,  and  the  times  would  soon  call,  not  for  synods,  but 
for  military  councils  hastily  summoned  to  devise  measures  of 
common  self-defence. 

If,  since  the  convention  signed  at  Fleix,  the  Huguenots  had 
not  been  the  object  of  a  general  war,  it  was,  nevertheless,  only 
too  true  that  they  were  still  disquieted  by  the  vexatious  neglect 
Infractions  of  king  and  his  ministers  to  execute  the  articles 

the  peace.  peace.  Tlic  clcrgy  begrudged  the  Protestants  even 
the  common  rights  of  humanity,  and  found  in  the  lowest  class 
of  the  population  a  willing  ally.  The  cure  of  Saint  Barthelemi 
grumbled  that  the  edict  of  pacification  went  to  the  length  of 
permitting  the  heretics  to  have  ministers  of  their  own  faith  to 
accompany  criminals  to  the  place  of  execution.'  No  wonder, 
then,  that  priests  similarly  inclined  interposed  every  obstacle 
to  the  equitable  execution  of  the  compact  of  Fleix.  The  abbe 
de  la  Trinite  instigated  the  royal  council,  upon  a  frivolous  pre- 
text, to  prevent  the  services  of  Protestant  worship  from  being 
held  in  Yendome,  an  original  fief  of  Henry  of  Xavarre,  from 
which  his  branch  of  the  Bourbon  family  derived  its  designa- 
tion.* Enterprises  were  set  on  foot,  with  the  connivance,  in 
some  cases,  of  royal  judges,  to  surprise  the  places  left  by  the 
edict  in  Protestant  hands.  In  Picardy  no  Protestant  worship 
was  tolerated.  "Where  places  of  worship  were  granted,  the 
same  ingenuity  was  exhibited  as  of  old  to  render  the  conces- 
sion nugatory.  For  the  Protestants  of  Lyons  and  Rouen  the 
most  useless  of  conceivable  places  were  assigned,  at  the  distance 
of  a  dozen  leagues,  in  the  heart  of  the  forests,  and  where  there 
were  no  Protestants  in  the  neighborhood.  With  malicious  per- 
versity Roman  Catholic  magistrates  interfered  with  the  execu- 
tion of  wills  drawn  up  for  the  benefit  of  the  Protestant  poor  and 


'  Journal  d'un  cure  ligueur  (Jehan  de  la  Fosse),  186. 
"  Ma  principalle  maison  et  celle  dont  je  suis  extraict." 
to  Henry  III.,  June  19,  15yi^  Lettres  missives,  i.  874,  875. 


Henry  of  Navarre 


224 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.       Cn.  IV. 


sick.  Tliese  unfortunates  were  thus  deprived  of  the  help  offered 
them  by  their  compassionate  fellow-believers,  while,  at  the 
same  time,  they  were  refused  admission  to  the  public  hospitals 
and  poor-houses  on  the  score  of  their  religion.  For  the  burial 
of  the  Protestant  dead  no  cemeteries  were  provided.  The 
Huguenot  fugitives  of  many  towns  and  villages  of  Languedoc 
dared  not  approach  their  former  homes,  now  pillaged  or  in 
ruins.  In  Dauphiny,  when  the  Huguenots,  yielding  to  Xavarre's 
persuasions,  admitted  the  Duke  of  Mavenne,  that 

The  Duke  of    ^   ,  ^  '  .  ,  ,  .  ".  r  i 

Mavenne  m  noblemau  paid  no  respect  to  the  stipulations  or  the 
edict,  but  proceeded  at  once  to  destroy  the  fortifica- 
tions of  Livron,  Loriol,  and  other  towns  which  had  stoutly  de- 
fended themselves  in  the  past  wars.'  In  Guyenne  the  Koman 
Catholics  even  seized  the  important  city  of  Perigueu.x,  one  of 
the  places  of  surety  accorded  to  the  Protestants  by  the  peace  of 
1576,  and  confirmed  to  them  by  subsequent  treaties,  and  re- 
fused to  restore  it  to  the  proper  owners.' 

Such  complaints  and  others  not  very  different  in  character 


'  We  learn  from  the  MS.  Journal  of  Lesdiguieres,  first  published  by  Pro- 
fessor Loutchitzky,  that  the  Protestants  of  Dauphiny  complained  that  the  treaty 
of  Fleix  was  made  without  their  knowledge  and  approval,  and  sent  first  to  the 
Duke  of  Anjou,  and  then  to  the  king,  to  request  that  Gap  and  Livron  be  given 
them  as  places  of  safety,  in  lieu  of  Serres  and  Nyons,  assigned  by  the  treat}-  of 
1577.  The  king  refused  to  make  the  substitution,  and  sent  Jtlayenne  with  an 
army  to  reduce  the  Protestant  Dauphinese.  A  part  of  the  Protestant  noblesse 
dishonorably  submitted,  and,  at  length,  Lesdiguieres,  after  having  stood  out 
for  a  time,  also  consented  to  the  peace,  upon  the  engagement  of  Mayenne  to 
execute  "the  edict  and  the  declarations  following  thereupon."  When  May- 
enne subsequently  proceeded  to  dismantle  Livron  and  put  garrisons  under 
governors  that  favored  the  League  in  Embrun  and  other  towns,  in  distinct 
violation  of  the  edict,  he  justified  his  perfidy  b}- interpreting  the  "declara- 
tions "  in  question  to  mean,  not  the  declarations  of  Ncrac  and  Fleix,  but  certain 
commands  in  writing  to  act  after  this  fashion  which  he  alleged  that  he  had  re- 
ceived from  the  king.    Seethe  interesting  documents  in  Loutchitzky,  113-126. 

-The  king,  indeed,  offered  in  lieu  the  insignificant  ''bicoque"  of  Puy- 
mirol,  near  Agen,  and  50,000  crowns,  payable  in  instalments  within  two 
years,  but  Henry  of  Navarre  denied  that  this  was  any  adequate  reparation  of 
so  signal  an  outrage.  The  correspondence  of  Navarre  with  Henry  III.,  M.  de 
Bellievre,  Marshal  Montmorency,  and  Marshal  Matignou,  from  June  to  Decem- 
ber, 1581,  is  my  authority  for  the  statements  of  the  text.  See  Lettres  mis- 
sives, i.  374-459. 


1583. 


THE  UNCERTAIN  PEACE. 


225 


continued  to  be  made  to  the  king  for  several  years  in  the  formal 
papers  drawn  up  by  the  political  assemblies  of  the  Huguenots, 
and  by  the  mouth  of  envoys  sent  to  court  for  the  purpose  of 
securing  the  royal  attention.'  And  it  cannot  be  said  that,  so 
far  as  verbal  or  written  assurances  went,  they  were  altogether 
fruitless.  The  declarations  of  tlio  king  that  he  intended  to  have 
his  compacts  with  his  Huguenot  subjects  executed  to  the  letter, 
and  that  all  violations  of  them  should  be  punished,  would  have 
been  eminently  satisfactory,  had  any  vigorous  steps  been  taken 
to  give  the  declarations  effect.  As  it  was,  at  the  very  moment 
the  monarch  was  threatening  to  prosecute  any  persons  that 
should  stir  up  strife,  the  priests  and  monks  were  preaching 
against  the  Protestants,  and  no  attempt  was  made  by  the  gov- 
ernment to  hinder  them.  In  fact,  the  means  were  adopted  best 
calculated  to  keep  up  the  memory  of  the  most  savage  cruelties 
which  that  or  any  other  age  ever  witnessed.  "  Upon  Saint 
commemora-  Bartliolomcw's  Day,"  wrote  William  Cecil,  from  Paris, 
^j™;'',^'''"',  in  1583,  "  we  had  here  solemn  processions  and  other 

Bartholomews  '  I 

Day-  tokens  of  triumphs  and  joy,  in  remembrance  of  the 

slaughter  committed  this  time  eleven  years  past.  But  I  doubt 
they  will  not  so  triumph  at  the  Day  of  Judgment." ' 

It  is  time,  however,  that  we  should  again  glance  at  the  po- 
litical events  which  were  only  too  soon  to  precipitate  the  king- 
dom into  a  new  and  sanguinary  struggle,  with  religion  for  the 
convenient  pretext.  Again  are  we  compelled  to  look  at  the 
condition  of  the  court,  and  to  view  the  despicable  personage  to 
whose  feeble  hands,  by  the  strange  order  of  things,  the  destiny 
of  France  was  intrusted.  The  contemplation  is,  certainly,  not 
a  pleasant  one,  and  we  shall  not  dwell,  beyond  the  absolute  re- 
quirements of  the  case,  upon  a  scene  better  calculated  to  create 
astonishment  and  inspire  disgust  than  gratify  a  laudable  curi- 
osity. The  wild  freaks  of  insanity  are  at  all  times  repulsive  to 
the  intelligent  spectator ;  but  the  mad  antics  of  a  youth  upon 
whom,  for  his  own  misfortune,  and  the  misfortune  of  millions 


'  Memoires  de  Duplessis  Mornay,  ii.  330,  etc. 

'  William  Cecil  to  Lord  Burleigh,  Paris,  August  25,  1583.    Ellis,  Original 
Letters,  Second  Series,  iii.  33. 
Vol.  L— 15 


22G 


THE  HUGUENOTS  ANT)  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE       Ch.  IV. 


of  his  fellow-men,  the  happiness  of  an  entire  country  is  depend- 
ent constitute  a  theme  which  the  sensitive  would  be  particu- 
larly glad  to  pass  over  in  silence. 

AVith  Henr}'  of  Valois  everything  was  goiug  from  bad  to 
worse.    His  recklessness  no  longer  knew  any  bounds.  Nothing 
was  bouerht  at  too  high  a  price  that  contributed  to 

Henry   IH.       ,  »    ,  .  P  ^  .  , 

andhismiu-  the  monarch  s  own  enjoyment,  or  to  the  advancement 
of  those  whom  he  had  selected  to  be  the  purveyors 
of  his  pleasures.  All  France  was  impoverished  to  provide  for 
the  support  of  the  royal  minions.  Even  death  did  not  lighten 
the  burden  resting  on  the  poor  people ;  for  a  deceased  favorite, 
however  humble  in  his  origin,  must  be  honored  with  fimeral 
obsequies  so  grand  and  sumptuous  that  a  former  generation 
would  have  regarded  them  as  too  extravagant  for  a  member 
of  the  royal  house  itself.  Anne  de  Joyeuse  and  Jean  Louis 
de  la  Talette  were  the  minions  upon  whom  Henry  had  fixed 
jovenseand  principal  affcction,  and  with  regard  to  whom  he 
£pernon.  seemed  only  to  have  one  remaining  solicitude— lest 
he  should  not  succeed  in  apportioning  lands,  revenues,  and  dig- 
nities in  exactly  equal  measure  to  each.  In  his  infatuation  for 
these  striplings,  he  rated  his  good  fortune  above  that  of  Alexan- 
der the  Great  because  he  had  found  such  excellent  friends.  They 
were  the  two  pillars  upon  which  the  prosperity  of  France  was 
to  rest.'  There  had  been,  indeed,  a  great  disparity  between  the 
favorites  ;  for  while  La  Yalette,  the  grandson  of  a  notary,  had 
begun  life  in  obscurity,  the  possessor  of  an  income  of  barely 
four  himdred  crowns,  Joyeuse  was  at  least  the  scion  of  a  race 
that  had  achieved  some  distinction  and  boasted  noble  extraction. 
"With  regard  to  both,  however,  their  royal  admirer  could  not 
rest  content  until  he  had  by  letters  patent  assigned  them  a  rank 
superior  to  that  of  any  others  of  his  subjects,  of  however  an- 
cient a  pedigree,  save  only  the  princess  of  the  blood  and  the 
members  of  the  houses  of  Savoy,  Lorraine,  Cleves,  and  Orleans- 
Longueville.  Anne  de  Joyeuse,  from  a  simple  count,  found 
himself  transformed  into  a  duke  and  a  peer  of  France  ;  while, 
a  few  months  later,  the  same  honor  was  conferred  upon  his  rival 


'  Busbecq  to  the  Emperor,  May  2,  1583.    Epistolae,  fol.  35. 


isas. 


THE  UNCERTAIN  PEACE. 


227 


in  the  king's  affections.  In  order  to  provide  the  latter  with  an 
estate  appropriate  to  his  rank,  the  king  himself  purchased  for 
him  the  title  to  an  important  fief,  and  young  La  Valette  appears 
in  history  henceforth  as  the  Duke  of  Epernon.  To  bind  his 
favorites  still  closer  to  himself  in  the  bonds  of  extraordinary 
intimacy,  Henry  resolved  to  provide  them  with  brides  from  the 
same  family  from  which  he  had  taken  his  own  wife.  Joyeuse 
was  married  to  Margaret,  daughter  of  the  Duke  of  Yaudemout, 
the  queen's  younger  sister.  The  monarch  bestowed  upon  her  a 
dowry  of  300,000  crowns,  just  as  if  she  had  been  a  king's  daugh- 
ter, and  made  a  present  of  an  equal  amount  of  money  to  the 
fortunate  bridegroom.  The  banquets,  jousts,  and  other  festivi- 
ties in  honor  of  the  marriage  cost  France  the  round  sum  of  over 
a  million  crowns.  The  queen's  remaining  sister,  Christine,  was 
not  yet  marriageable,  but  she  was  betrothed  to  Epernon,  and  her 
dowry  of  300,000  crowns  was  at  once  paid  to  him.  It  was  more 
difficult  to  find  provinces  of  the  kingdom  whose  control  inight 
be  intriTsted  to  the  upstart  grandees.  A  royal  command  was 
likely  to  be  of  little  avail  in  such  case,  and  might  meet  with 
a  positive  refusal.  It  seemed  more  advisable  to  piirchase  the 
consent  of  the  present  holder  than  to  undertake  to  compel  his 
acquiescence  in  the  transfer.  Epernon  had  cast  longing  eyes 
upon  the  important  province  of  Guyenne,  and  the  king  offered 
Henry  of  Navarre  the  sum  of  two  hundred  thousand  crowns  to 
relinquish  it.  But  the  Bearnais  would  hear  of  no  smaller  price 
than  a  million  francs,  to  which  extravagant  figure  his  debts  ap- 
pear to  have  amounted,  and  so  the  negotiation  fell  through.' 
For  Joyeuse  his  royal  master  resolved  to  make  provision  from 
The  king  at-  ^^^^^  morc  cxteuslve  province  of  Languedoc.  In 
tempts  to  re-  yalu,  howcvcr,  did  he  order  the  old  constable's  son  to 

move  Marsnal  '  ' 

Montmorency,  resign  his  office  in  favor  of  Joyeuse,  offering  him  the 
government  of  the  tie  de  France  instead.  Montmorency  abso- 
lutely refuse  to  make  the  exchange,  and  took  such  prompt  meas- 
ures to  defend  his  rights  that  the  king  dared  not  wage  war 


'  "  Harisposto  volerlo  fare,  sempre  vogli  pagare  li  suoi  debiti,  clie  sono  circa 
Tin  milione  di  franchi."  Renieri  to  the  grand  duke,  Paris,  July  30,  1582, 
Negociations  avec  la  Toscane,  iv.  421. 


228 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OP  NAVARRE.       Cn.  IV. 


with  him  "  lest  worse  might  befall  him."  '  And  when,  a  year 
or  more  later,  Joyeuse  undertook  to  stir  up  a  revolt  in  Langue- 
doc  so  as  to  gain  a  foothold  there,  the  full  anger  of  the  descend- 
ant of  the  lirst  Christian  of  France  burst  out.  Having  taken 
at  Clermont  a  number  of  Joj'euse's  partisans  with  arms  in  their 
hands,  he  put  them  all  to  death.  He  was  about  to  do  the  same 
to  other  rebels  against  his  authority  captured  at  Lodeve,  when 
he  received  a  message  from  the  king  declaring  his  displeasure 
that  the  cities  of  his  realm  should  be  sacked  simply  because  of 
a  quarrel  between  two  of  his  marshals,  and  confirming  Montmo- 
rency as  governor  of  Languedoc.''  To  so  low  an  ebb  had  the 
royal  authority  fallen  ;  and  so  much  was  gained  by  resolute  re- 
bellion. In  other  undertakings,  however,  Henry  was  more  suc- 
cessful. The  necessitous  Duke  of  Mayenne  was  easily  prevailed 
on  to  sell  the  admiralty  to  Joyeuse  for  one  hundred  and  twenty 
thousand  crowns,  two-thirds  of  the  purchase  money  being  paid 
down  and  good  security  given  for  the  balance  ;  and  for  eight 
thousand  crowns,  a  minor  favorite,  Alphonso  the  Corsican,  ob- 
tained the  post  of  colonel  of  the  Italian  infantry.  In  short,  the 
king  exhibited  himself,  in  the  eyes  of  an  astonished  world,  in 
the  capacity  of  a  shrewd  broker,  driving  bargains  for  the  pur- 
chase of  the  offices  of  state  once  bestowed  as  rewards  of  merito- 


'  Lestoile  (May,  1583),  i.  162,  163. 

-  Lestoile  (October,  1584),  i.  179.  The  disgraceful  dissensions  of  the  court 
had  their  parallel  in  the  cloister.  Sir  Edward  Stafford,  in  his  letter  of  Decem- 
her  13,  1583  (Murdin  State  Papers,  384),  gives  us  an  amusing  description  of  a 
"battell"  that  took  place  among  the  nuns  cf  Poissy,  in  whose  refectory  the 
famous  colloquy  had  been  held  more  than  a  score  of  years  before.  On  the 
death  of  the  abbess,  seventy-five  of  the  sisters  voted  for  an  old  woman  as  her 
successor,  the  other  tweuty-five  for  Madame  du  Perron,  sister  of  Marshal 
Retz.  Thereupon,  Catharine  de'  Medici  went  to  Poissy  to  persuade  the  nun.3 
to  receive  the  last-named  lady  ;  but  the  nuns  barred  the  entrance,  and  the 
queen  mother's  servants  were  compelled  to  dig  under  the  wall  to  get  the 
gate  open.  Shutting  themselves  in  their  rooms,  the  nuns  informed  Cath- 
arine from  the  windows  that  they  would  starve  "  afore  theie  would  loose 
their  accustomed  liberties."  The  next  day  they  fell  upon  Madame  dii 
Perron,  and  beat  her  until  she  could  no  longer  stand,  as  the  author  of  their 
"harme."  The  king's  guards  had  to  arrest  two  or  three  of  the  "hedd3-est" 
of  the  nuns  and  put  them  in  other  religious  houses  before  the  commotion 
could  be  quelled. 


1583. 


THE  UNCERTAIN  PEACE. 


229 


rious  services,  and  paying  the  purchase  money  out  of  his  own 
pocket.' 

There  is  another  side  of  the  royal  character  and  life  at  which 
fortunately  we  are  not  compelled  here  to  look.  Rumors  were 
Infamy  of  the  afloat  of  exccsses  too  gross  to  be  put  upon  paper — 
royal  morals,  gtoj-igg  ^ygrc  told  of  uuuatural  Crime  with  too  much 
circumstantial  detail  to  be  rejected  as  apocryphal.  Prudent 
men  abstained  from  saying  more  than  that  if  the  king  was 
childless,  it  was  the  direct  result  of  his  lewd  practices.  The 
Florentine  agent  wrote  in  his  secret  despatches  to  his  own 
government :  "  I  shall  describe  to  you  by  w'ord  of  mouth  the 
king's  mode  of  the  life,  albeit  his  majesty  asserts  his  intention 
to  change  it.  Anyone  that  imderstands  what  it  is  must  doubt 
whether  God  will  delay  overnnich  to  take  vengeance."  ^  A 
few  months  later  he  writes  that  the  prince,  whom  he  contempt- 
uously designates,  from  the  strange  mixture  of  religious  per- 
formances with  his  orgies,  as  "the  bishop" — "  il  vescovo" — 
seems  no  longer  to  have  a  concern  for  anything,  and  gives 
everyone  the  impression  that,  inasmuch  as  he  has  no  children, 
he  is  quite  walling  that  the  kingdom  should  come  to  an  end 
with  his  life.'  Now  and  then  a  wit,  more  audacious  than  the 
rest  of  his  kind,  ventured  to  hint  even  to  the  king  himself 
M'hat  the  world  thought  of  the  moral  atmosphere  surrounding 
"ihe  throne  ;  as  when,  on  one  occasion,  Henry  having  remarked 
to  his  companions  after  dinner  that  lie  had  always  heard  it  said 
that,  whenever  the  royal  court  stopped  for  ten  days  or  a  fort- 
night in  any  place  where  the  plague  was  raging,  the  pestilence 
was  sure  to  disappear,  Rucellai  promptly  rejoined :  "  Yes,  Sire, 
one  devil  drives  the  other  away."  * 

What  with  an  effeminate  kino;  -who  shunned  evervthinsr 


'  Albortani  to  the  grand  duke,  May  1,  1582.  Negociations  avec  la  Toscane, 
442,  443. 

^  "  Chi  la  sa,  dubita  die  Dio  tardi  troppo  a  risentirsene. ''    The  same  to  the 
same,  July  15  and  22,  1582,  ibid.,  iv.  443,  444. 
2  Ibid.,  iv.  456. 

Henry  felt  'he  home-thrust,  for  he  afterward  expressed  his  wonder  that 
he  had  not  incontintutly  thrown  Rucellai  out  of  the  window.  Ibid.,  iv. 
541. 


230 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.       Ch.  IV. 


manly,  who  cared  more  for  the  dogs  in  the  basket  which  he 
carried  suspended  from  a  ribbon  about  his  neck  than  for  his 
Financial  em-  uuhappj  subjects,  and  could  never  wring  money 
anddangerous  f^st  euough  fVom  thosB  Unhappy  subjects  to  bestow 
expedients.  ^pQjj  ]jjg  insatiate  favorites,  France  was  wretched 
enough.  When  his  resources  ran  low,  when  financiers  stood 
aghast,  and  even  Catharine  de'  Medici  was  driven  almost  to 
despair ;  when  the  tried  coimsellors  of  the  crown  attempted  to 
resist  the  creation  of  new  offices  entailing  fresh  burdens  for 
the  people,  Henry  took  the  matter  into  his  own  hands.  One 
day  he  went  to  parliament,  and,  utterly  disregarding  the  remon- 
strance of  the  judges,  compelled  that  venerable  body  to  register 
not  less  than  twenty-seven  edicts  whose  obnoxious  character  it 
had  pointed  out.'  And  so  the  load  of  taxation  went  on  recei%-- 
ing  almost  daily  additions  to  its  weight,  despite  the  fact  that  the 
king  himself  received  but  a  small  part  of  what  was  drawn  from 
the  purses  of  the  unfortunate  tax-payers.  It  was  the  English 
ambassador's  opinion,  "  that  there  were  so  many  officers  in 
France,  that  what  sum  soever  the  king  received,  either  Taille, 
'  Demayne,'  or  any  way  else,  the  officers  being  paid,  there  came 
to  the  king,  of  every  French  crown  that  was  received  for  him, 
but  seven  '  sons,'  which  is  not  above  two  groats  of  our  money.''  ^ 
The  people  might  murmur,  but  no  account  was  made  of  the 
discontent ;  the  people  was  a  beast  that  had  lost  its  teeth  and 
its  claws.'  In  place,  however,  of  blind  devotion  to  its  king, 
once  a  proud  distinction  of  the  tiers  etat,  there  was  now  in 
men's  hearts  a  deep-set  hatred  of  a  prince  whose  sympathies 
could  not  be  touched  by  the  sight  of  the  general  distress.  When 
Henry  and  his  wife  were  seen  making  pilgrimages  to  Our  Lady 
of  Chartres,  and  the  faithful  throughout  France  were  exhorted 
to  join  in  the  processions  set  on  foot  in  every  city,  to  supplir 
cate  heaven  for  the  boon  of  an  heir  to  the  throne,  the  miser- 
able victims  of  royal  prodigality  were  more  inclined  to  invoke 


1  De  Thou,  vi.  (liv.  74)  130. 

^  Sir  Edward  Stafford  to  the  secretary,  December  22,  1583.    Murdin  State 
Papers,  387,  388. 
'  Lestoile,  i.  154. 


1583. 


THE  UNCERTAIN  PEACE. 


231 


curses  than  blessings  upon  the  head  of  their  king,  and  desired 
rather  the  extinction  than  the  preservation  of  his  race.'  The 
sovereign,  as  though  deaf  to  the  popular  murmurs,  continued 
his  untimely  efforts  to  induce  his  subjects,  instead  of  suing  for 
relief  from  existing  taxes,  to  consent  to  assume  new  obligations. 
Commissioners  were  sent  out  with  this  object  in  view,  but  they 
soon  returned  reporting  the  entire  failure  of  the  effort.  Ko 
money  could  be  raised  without  the  immediate  prospect  of  open 
resistance  and  bloodshed.  "  If,"  said  the  people,  "  the  king 
were  in  pressing  need,  we  should  know  our  duty  and  do  it  ;  but 
his  majesty  asks  for  money  only  that  he  may,  as  is  his  wont, 
enrich  a  few  young  men  by  his  ill-timed  liberality.  The  de- 
mand is  out  of  all  reason."  ^ 

Meanwhile,  this  spendthrift  king,  this  inventor  of  orgies  too 
foul  for  pen  to  describe,  had  his  moods  of  devotion,  and  con- 
institution  of  tiuucd  to  practisc  ceremonials  for  the  most  part  as 
ty  of thl'^An-  pnenlc,  and  frequently  leading  to  as  lavish  an  expen- 
nunciation.  (Jitm-e  of  tlic  hard  earnings  of  the  people,  as  his  \m- 
manly  amusements.  Early  in  1583  a  new  order  of  penitents 
was  instituted,  under  the  express  sanction  of  Henry  III.  It 
took  the  name  of  the  Fraternity  of  "  the  Annunciation,"  and 
on  the  day  upon  which  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  celebrated 
that  event  (the  twenty-fifth  of  March)  a  grand  procession  was 
held,  through  a  pouring  rain,  in  the  streets  of  Paris,  much  to 
the  disgust  of  the  intelligent  men  and  women  of  the  capital. 
The  procession  was  repeated  on  Good  Friday,  but,  for  greater 
respectability,  by  torchlight.  The  Parisians,  who  had  heard  of 
the  king's  affection  for  the  Flagellants  of  Avignon  eight  or  nine 
years  before,  now  for  the  first  time  had  the  opportunity  of  \vit- 
nessing  the  strange  rites  of  these  devotees,  and  the  more  singu- 
lar conduct  of  a  monarch  who  did  not  hesitate  to  put  off  his 
ordinary  garb  in  order  to  assume  the  rough  sack  worn  by  the 
penitents,  and  to  go  on  foot  carrying  the  great  cross.  There 
■was  no  doubt  as  to  the  orthodoxy  of  the  statutes  of  the  order  ; 


'  Memoires  de  Claude  Haton,  ii.  1080. 

^  Busbecq  to  the  Emperor  Kudolph  II.,  March  20,  1583.  Epistolae,  fols. 
38,  129. 


232 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HE>TIY  OF  XAVAKRE       Ch.  IV. 


for  among  the  grounds  assigned  for  the  adoption  of  the  name 
of  the  ^Vnnunciation  of  the  Virgin  was  this :  The  third  reason 
has  been  om*  common  hope  of  one  day  seeing  in  this  kingdom, 
through  the  ardent  requests  of  the  very  holy  Virgin,  all  the 
heresies,  errors,  and  false  opinions  that  ravage  and  trouble  it 
overturned  and  destroyed,  according  as  the  Church  has  been 
wont  to  sing  in  her  lauds :  '  Gaude,  Maria  virgo ;  cunctas  hae- 
reses  sola  interemisti  in  universo  mundo." "  '  Xone  the  less  did 
many  of  the  clergy,  despite  the  expressed  approval  of  pope  and 
nuncio,  denounce  from  the  pulpit  a  new  superstition  iinder  the 
cloak  of  which  courtiers  attempted  to  screen  shameful  excesses 
from  popular  scrutiny  and  reprobation.  Even  Catharine  de' 
Medici,  who  had  once  given  her  sanction  to  the  Flagellants  of 
Avignon,  was  alarmed  when  she  heard  from  many  quarters  the 
prophecy  that  Henry  was  about  to  exchange  his  crown  for  a 
cowl,  and  violently  reproached  the  Jesuit  Auger,  whom  she 
held  responsible  for  having  induced  her  son  to  neglect  the  af- 
fairs of  state,  and  from  a  king  become  a  monk.  The  very  lack- 
eys that  followed  their  masters  to  court  caught  the  infection  of 
the  general  contempt  for  the  new  devotion,  and  set  on  foot  in 
the  courtyard  of  the  Louvi-e  a  mimic  procession  of  penitents ;  for 
which  insult  Henry,  when  he  heard  of  it,  ordered  eighty  of  the 
culprits  to  be  flogged  in  good  earnest.  Evidently  the  monarch's 
Th  kin  gi'eat  device  for  winning  the  reputation  of  sanctity 
Avaningdevo-  had  proved  a  complete  failure.  The  people  preferred 
to  judge  of  his  character  from  the  reported  incidents 
of  his  daily  life  rather  than  from  the  hypocritical  displays  of 
his  assumed  devotions."    However,  for  a  time  Henry  kept  up 


'  "Les  statuts  de  la  congregation  des  penitens  de  I'Annonciation  de  ?sostre 
Dame."  Eeprinted  in  Cimber  et  Danjou,  Arcliives  curieuses,  x.  443.  Beside 
a  very  full  confession  of  faith,  the  statutes  contain  a  pledge  on  the  part  of  each 
member,  if  possible,  to  attend  mass  daily,  and  to  repeat,  on  getting  out  of  bed 
and  on  going  to  bed,  three  pater-nosters  and  three  ave-marias,  kneeling  and 
kissing  the  ground  at  each  repetition.  I  find  only  one  act  of  benevolence  in- 
culcated :  Every  year,  at  the  beginning  of  Lent,  the  rector  was  empowered  to 
make  an  inquiry  for  poor  young  girls  of  marriageable  age.  On  Lady's  Day  the 
members  of  the  fraternity  were  to  contribute  toward  their  dowry,  and  hus- 
bands were  to  be  found  for  them  after  Easter. 

-  See  De  Thou,  vi.  294,  295;  Lestoile,  i.  159,  160;  Jehan  de  la  Fosse,  194; 


1583. 


THE  UNCERTAIN  PEACE. 


233 


the  farce — wore  the  penitent's  dress,  partook  o£  the  holy  com- 
munion every  fortnight,  fumbled  with  a  necklace  of  ebony  with 
death's  heads  in  ivory,  frequented  the  Capuchins'  church,  sang 
daily  for  two  or  three  hours  with  the  monks,  dismissed  his 
musicians,  refused  to  have  dancing  at  court,  and  excited  general 
wonder  by  the  practice  of  his  self-imposed  austerities.  Kever- 
theless,  it  was  not  many  months  before  his  devotion,  as  observed 
by  the  attentive  eyes  of  foreign  diplomatic  agents,  had  sensibly 
diminished,  and  he  had  returned  again  to  his  old  pleasures.' 
Meantime,  superstitious  fears  never  relinquished  their  hold  upon 
ana  supersti-  the  king,  prone,  like  his  mother,  to  place  implicit  con- 
fidence  in  signs  and  portents.  One  night  he  had  a 
remarkable  dream,  lie  fancied  that  he  was  attacked,  torn  in 
pieces,  and  devoured  by  the  lions,  bears,  and  other  wild  ani- 
mals, of  which  he  kept  a  number  in  the  Louvre  for  use  in 
mock  combats.  On  awaking,  Henry  was  so  impressed  with 
the  idea  that  some  disaster  impended  over  him,  that  he  sent 
and  had  the  entire  collection  of  beasts  shot  by  his  arquebusiers.* 
An  enemy  more  to  be  dreaded  than  any  that  his  imagina- 
tion could  conjui-e  up  was  stealthily  gathering  its  forces  and 
pi-eparing  a  blow  which  the  king  would  prove  impotent  to 
parry.  The  ambitious  family  of  Loi-raine  had  never  lost  its 
Discontent  of  l<jngiiig  for  the  power  of  which  it  had  enjoyed  a 
the  Guises,  brief  taste  during  the  reign  of  Francis  the  Second. 
Henry  of  Guise  and  his  brothers,  the  Cardinal  and  the  Duke  of 
Mayenne,  had  inherited  the  traditions  of  their  father  and  of 


Busbecq,  fols.  36-39;  Busini  to  the  grand  duke,  March  31,  1583,  Negocia- 
tions  avec  la  Toscane,  iv.  459.  Friar  Maurice  Poncet,  wlio  distinguished  him- 
self by  liis  denunciations,  made  bold  to  style  the  king's  institution,  in  his  ser- 
mons, "confrairie  des  hipocrites  et  atlicistes."    Lestoile,  ubi  supra. 

'  The  bulletins  of  the  king's  spiritual  liealth,  as  despatched  to  the  Grand 
Duke  of  Tuscany  by  liis  agent  about  this  time,  are  sufficiently  grotesque. 
According  to  Busini  (letter  of  June  27,  1583),  it  was  the  nuncio  that  advised. 
Henry  to  renounce  the  penitent's  dress.  The  record  closes,  at  the  end  of  a 
little  over  a  half-year,  with  the  discouraging  entry  thattlie  king  is  well  enough 
in  body,  it  is  true,  but  "sendo  ritornato  a  suoi  soliti  piaceri,  sendo  declinato 
assai  dalla  devozione."  Letter  of  October  13,  1583,  Negociatious  avec  la  Tos- 
cane, iv.  475. 

Lestoile,  January  21,  1583,  i.  15G. 


234= 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.      Ch.  IV. 


the  Cardinal  Charles  of  Lorraine.  They  could  scarcely  be  ex- 
pected to  submit  with  good  grace  to  the  eclipse  of  their  greatness 
through  the  sudden  elevation  of  such  upstarts  as  Joyeuse  and 
Epernon.  An  excuse  for  resistance  to  the  royal  plans  must  be 
found,  and  the  search  was  neither  long  nor  difficult.  In  the 
good  old  days  of  their  absolute  authority  under  the  name  of  their 
nephew  Francis,  the  elder  Guises  had  certainly  never  exhibited 
over-much  solicitude  for  the  welfare  of  the  oppressed  people  ; 
indeed,  the  great  demand  of  the  people  had  been  for  an  ac- 
counting on  the  part  of  this  grasping  family  for  the  immense 
sums  of  money  that  had  passed  through  their  hands.  As  to 
religion,  Duke  Francis  and  his  brother  Charles  had  assured 
the  Duke  of  Wiirtemberg,  at  the  conference  of  Saverne,  of 
their  virtual  agreement  with  the  doctrinal  views  of  the  Ger- 
man Reformers,  and  the  churchman  had  volunteered  the  state- 
ment that  in  default  of  a  red  gown  he  would  willingly  wear  a 
black  one.  Xow,  however,  it  was  very  convenient  to  assume 
the  attitude  of  defenders  of  the  faith,  and  to  simulate  a  deep 
solicitude  for  the  woes  of  a  nation  staggering  under  a  load  of 
inordinate  taxation.  At  the  very  same  moment,  however,  the 
members  of  this  'highly  patriotic  family  were  in  close  commu- 
nication with  the  King  of  Spain  and  the  Duke  of  Alva,  the 
more  or  less  openly  declared  enemies  of  France,  and  were 
Conspiracy  plotting  to  opeu  the  gatcs  of  the  kingdom  and  allow 
GuiTe='savoy  ^  foreigner  to  invade  the  soil  for  which  they  pro- 
and  Spain,  fesscd  SO  mucli  interest.  Such  conspiracies  can  rarely 
be  kept  secret,  and  it  was  not  long  before  vague  intimations 
reached  the  king.  The  first  authoritative  statements  came  to 
him  through  a  messenger  sent  by  Henry  of  Xavarre.  The 
partisans  of  the  League  were  to  rise  in  Champagne  and 
Burgundy,  so  soon  as  the  Duke  of  Savoy  should  make  his 
appearance  on  the  frontier.  Meanwhile  Charles  Emmanuel 
was  providing  stores  of  ammunition  and  massing  his  forces 
in  Bresse,  whence,  as  from  a  centre,  he  might  conveniently 
strike  a  decisive  blow  either  northward  or  southward.  Isor 
had  the  emissaries  of  Philip  and  the  Duke  of  Savoy  been  idle 
in  France  itself.  The  Duke  of  Montmorency,  disgusted  with 
the  policy  of  the  king,  angry  at  the  preference  given  to  per- 


1554. 


THE  UNCERTAIN  PEACE. 


235 


sonal  favorites  over  the  representatives  of  the  oldest  families 
of  the   kingdom,  especially   indignant   that   Henry  should 
persist,  as  he  believed  that  Henry  still  persisted,  in  the  in- 
tention of   giving  the  province  of  Languedoc  to 

Disloyalty  of  i      f  i  -ii-  i  i 

the  Marshal  Joycusc,  had  lent  a  wilhng  ear  to  those  that  sug- 
'  gested  a  practical  method  of  revenge.  He  was  to 
await  the  invader  at  Pont  Saint  Esprit  on  the  Rhone,  and 
to  be  aided  by  the  Spanish  king  and  the  Duke  of  Savoy,  from 
whom  he  had  already  received  pecuniary  help.  Philip,  who, 
when  the  occasion  offered,  knew  well  enough  how  to  subor- 
dinate religion  to  policy,  had  even  approached  the  King  of 
Philip  at-  J^avarre,  and  endeavored  to  seduce  him  from  his 
du"'ethr}ang  ^^y^^^-y  ^y  flattering  offers.  The  Bearnese,  falling  in 
ofxavarre.  with  the  customs  of  tlio  Insiucero  diplomacy  of  the 
period,  had  for  some  time  been  maintaining  negotiations  with 
the  occupant  of  the  Escorial,  which  were  purposely  invested 
with  an  air  of  close  secrecy.  Xeither  of  the  parties,  bitter  and 
irreconcilable  enemies  as  they  were  at  heart,  had  any  other  in- 
tention than  to  outwit  the  other ;  but  Philip  could  scarcely 
have  been  aware  of  the  fact  that  Henry  of  Bourbon  from  time 
to  time  transmitted  to  the  King  of  France  a  full  account  of 
what  had  been  said  and  done.'  Of  late  the  Spaniard  had  made 
more  definite  and  tempting  offers.  "If  your  master  will  con- 
sent," said  the  plenipotentiaries  of  Philip  to  Duplessis  Mornay, 
Navarre's  representative,  "  the  King  of  Spain  will  furnish  him 
with  the  means  to  make  war  against  Henry  of  Valois,  and  will 
continiie  his  support  until  he  shall  have  placed  the  crown  of 
France  upon  his  head.  But  your  master  must  make  up  his 
mind  at  once ;  our  king  has  other  customers  in  France  who  are 
ready  to  strike  a  bargain  with  him." ' 

'  Duplessis  Mornay  reported  to  tlie  King  of  Navarre  the  substance  of  an  in- 
terview with  Henry  III. ,  in  which  he  had  said :  '"Qu'on  lui  avoit  diet  que 
vous  traictiez  avec  le  roy  d'Espaigne,  par  certaines  personnes  interposees  :  ce 
qui  estoit  vrai ;  mais  que  sa  majeste  se  pouvoit  ressouvenir  qu'elle  I'avoit 
trouve  bon,  et  que  de  fois  a  aultre  on  I'avoit  advertie  de  ce  qui  s'y  estoit 
passe."  Duplessis  to  the  King  of  Navarre,  February  20,  1584,  Memoires,  ii. 
527. 

^  "  Particulierementque  vous  ne  lui  voulliez  celer  que,  depuis])eu,  vous  auroit 
est6  declare,  de  la  part  du  roy  d'Espaigue,  que,  si  vous  voulliez,  on  vous  <l<iii- 


236 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE. 


Ch.  IV. 


The  tidings  of  sucli  serious  designs  upon  tlie  peace  and  integ- 
rity of  liis  kingdom,  and  even  upon  the  possession  of  the  crown 
Henry's  itself,  inadc  for  the  moment  an  impression  upon 
irresolution,  ^[^q  mind  of  the  king  and  of  Catharine  de'  Medici. 
It  seemed  at  one  time  as  if  the  feeble  and  irresohite  prince 
would  awake  from  his  dream  of  securing  peace  at  any  price, 
and  adopt  decisive  measures  that  might  forestall  all  future 
attempts  of  his  insidious  enemies.  He  authorized  levies  of 
troops  in  Switzerland,  and  sent  powder  and  gensdarmes  to 
Lyons,  the  most  vulnerable  point  of  his  territory — precautions 
that  evidently  excited  the  suspicions  of  the  Guises  lest  their 
plans  were  discovered.  He  went  further,  and  calling  to  him 
the  Dukes  of  ^severs  and  of  Mayenne,  one  Saturday,  in  the 
Tuileries,  consulted  them  as  to  how  conspirators  should  be 
handled.  "  The  ambassador  of  Venice,"  said  he,  "  came  to  see 
me  this  afternoon.  I  am  greatlj-  indebted  to  the  Yeuetians  be- 
cause of  the  excellent  reception  they  gave  me  on  my  return 
from  Poland,  and  now  tliej'  ask  my  opinion  in  respect  to  a 
matter  in  which  I  should  wish  to  give  them  sound  advice. 
They  have  discovered  a  conspiracy  of  some  of  the  chief  senators 
against  the  state.  The  truth  of  the  matter  is  ascertained  be- 
yond a  question,  but  they  know  not  how  to  manage  it.  What 
think  you  ?  "  Mayenne  and  IS e vers  were,  doubtless,  not  slow 
in  discovering  an  analogy  between  the  case  of  the  inculpated 


neroit  le  moyen  de  lui  faire  la  guerre,  et  qu'on  le  vons  continueroit  jusques  a 
vous  mettre  la  couronue  sur  la  teste.  Mais  qu'il  estoit  temps  de  vous  ressou- 
dre,  sinon  qu'il  avoit  sou  marchaud  prest  en  France.  Et  lui  dis  que  ces  propos 
m'avoient  este  tenues  a  moi  mesmes."  Ibid.,  whi  supra.  "Les  negociateurs 
du  roi  d'Espagne  sur  les  difficultes  que  je  leur  faisois  traitant  aveceux,  me  di- 
rent  en  partaut,  '  He  bien  vous  refusez  ce  parti,  nos  marcliands  sontprets,'  en- 
teudant  ceux  de  Guise."  Note  of  Duplessis  Moruay  to  De  Thou,  v.  (liv.  79)378. 
Tlie  offers  were  made  through  the  Viscount  of  Chaux  and  one  Undiano,  his 
brother-in-law.  AVhat  Henry  III.  asserted  of  the  readiness  of  Guise  to  join 
forces  with  Navarre,  or  with  any  other  Protestant,  inside  or  outside  of  the 
kingdom,  "  provided  only  he  were  promised  friendship  and  help  for  his  estab- 
lishment," was  equally  true  of  Philip  II. 's  disposition.  "  The  alliances  which 
he  sought  with  those  whom  he  condemned  most  before  men  as  the  favorers 
of  heresy  are  unknown  to  those  alone  who  do  not  wish  to  know."  Declara- 
tion of  the  king  against  the  Dukes  of  Mayenne  and  Aumale,  Blois,  February, 
1589,  Isambert,  xiv.  638. 


15S4. 


THE  UNCERTAIN  PEACE. 


237 


Yenetians  and  their  own.  Very  naturally  they  recommended 
mature  deliberation  and  the  fullest  information  before  any  step 
should  be  taken.  The  apprehension  aroused  by  the  king's  in- 
terrogatory was  not  lessened  when,  on  leaving  his  presence, 
^severs  ascertained  by  careful  inquiry  from  the  ambassadors 
of  the  Italian  states,  and  from  the  envoy  of  Venice  in  particu- 
lar, that  there  was  not  the  slightest  basis  of  truth  for  the  al- 
leged plot  against  the  doge.'  Yet,  after  all,  Henry  stopped 
short  of  any  manly  resolution  such  as  the  occasion  and  his  own 
peril  demanded.  It  is  true  that  he  thanked  his  cousin  of 
Xavarre  heartily  for  his  expedition  in  acquainting  him  with  the 
conspiracy,  and  repeated  his  declarations  of  good  will  to  his 
Protestant  sv;bjects.  "  I  shall  maintain  peace  with  them  ;  I 
shall  show  that  I  am  well  disposed  to  them,"  said  he  to  Duplessis 
Mornay.  Xor  did  he  decline  Xavarre's  offices  in  seeking  to 
win  Marshal  Montmorency  back  to  his  duty.  It  was  impossi- 
ble, however,  in  a  day  to  remove  the  impressions  sedulously 
fostered  by  his  most  intimate  counsellors  through 
leans  to  the    lonff  years.    He  still  thou";ht,  because  thus  lie  had 

Guises  .  . 

been  instructed  to  think,  that  the  only  perils  to  which 
he  was  exposed  came  from  the  dreaded  Huguenots.  The 
Guises  might  be  troublesome  at  times,  but  they  certainly  meant 
no  great  injury.'  As  for  the  League,  had  he  not  first  absorbed 
it  by  proclaiming  himself  its  head,  and  then  ordered  it  out  of 
existence  by  expressly  stipulating,  in  the  edict  of  pacification 
of  1577,  that  all  such  associations  should  forthwith  cease?  In 
his  present  frame  of  mind,  it  was  to  no  purpose  that  Henry  of 
Navarre  might  offer  him  his  sword,  as  he  had  offered  it,  months 

before,  to  attack  Philip  the  Second  in  the  very  heart 

and  discour-       e    r^      •  t  •  rii 

ages  Navarre's  of  bpain,  as  a  divei'siou  to  furtlicr  the  attempt  of 

&dv&iiccs> 

Anjou  in  the  Low  Countries.'  It  was  equally  useless 
to  try  to  persuade  him  that  the  patriotism  of  the  Protestants 
was  beyond  question,  or,  to  use  their  own  words,  that  there  was 

'  Duplessis  Mornay  to  the  King  of  Navarre,  March  9,  1584,  Mcmoires,  ii. 
546. 

'De  Thou,  vi.  211,  391. 

'Justification  des  actions  du  roy  de  Navarre  (July  6,  1583),  Memoires  de 
Duplessis  Mornay,  ii.  301. 


23S  THE  HUGUEXOTS  AST)  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.       Cu.  IV. 


not  a  Frenchman  in  France  more  French  than  were  the  Hugue- 
nots.' Only  the  stern  logic  of  subsequent  events  could  convince 
him  that  his  life-long  views  were  altogether  false. 

Yet  the  loyalty  of  the  King  of  Xavarre,  the  head  of  the 
Huguenots,  had  recently  been  put  to  a  severe  test.    For  much 
less  important  grounds  had  a  constable  of  Bourbon,  early  in 
the  century,  renounced  his  allegiance  to  Francis  the  First, 
and  gone  over  to  the  side  of  the  enemies  of  his  coun- 

The  affront  -rm  i  ■         •  r    -r->i  -t 

to  the  King  try.  \V  hcn  the  emissaries  of  rhilip  came  to  the 
friends  of  Henry  of  Xavarre  with  the  offer  of  two 
hundred  thousand  ducats  to  be  paid  to  him  upon  his  promise  to 
wage  war  against  the  King  of  France,  and  with  the  promise  of 
four  hundred  thousand  more  when  four  cities  should  have  been 
captured,  and  six  hundred  thousand  for  every  year  the  war 
might  last' — when,  I  say,  these  tempting  inducements  were 
held  forth  to  the  owner  of  the  little  kingdom  at  the  foot  of  the 
Pyrenees,  he  was  still  smarting  from  a  recent  and  cruel  affi-ont. 

"  Xever  was  Africa  so  fruitful  of  novelties  but  that  France 
to-day  surpasses  it.''  Thus  wrote  an  ambassador  to  his  imperial 
master.''  The  incident  that  elicited  the  remark  was  the  strange 
treatment  just  received  by  Margaret  of  Xavarre  at  the  hands 
of  her  brother  the  king.  The  bride  of  Saint  Bartholomew's 
Day  had  apparently  resolved  that  all  the  infamy  should  not 
fall  to  the  share  of  the  male  members  of  the  house  of  Yalois, 
and  had  made  her  married  life  as  notorious  for  its  irregulari- 
ties as  her  nuptials  had  been  distinguished  by  bloody  massacre. 
For  many  years  brother  and  sister  had  cordially  hated  one  an- 
other. Xow  there  was  new  cause  of  hostility.  Henry  had 
written  to  his  favorite  Joyeuse  at  Kome,  detailing  with  mali- 
cious particularity  the  story  of  his  sister  s  most  recent  lapses 


'  "n  est  asses  evident  qu'il  n'y  a  Francois  plus  Franjois  en  France  qu' 
eulx."  Raisons  pour  induire  le  roy  a  accorder  la  prolongation  des  places,  etc. 
(August  1-2,  1583).    Ibid.,  ii.  362. 

-  Agrippa  d'Aubigne's  figures  (Histoire  universelle,  ii.  457)  differ  some- 
what from  those  of  Sully,  i.  c.  18 ;  while  Duplessis  Mornay  (in  his  note  to  De 
Thou,  ubi  supra)  makes  the  immediate  offer  to  have  been  300,000  crowns, 
with  100,000  crowns  monthly. 

^  Busbecq  to  the  emperor,  September  20,  1583.    Epistola  24. 


1583. 


THE  UNCERTAIN  PEACE. 


239 


from  virtue  ;  and  Margaret,  hearing  of  the  contents  of  the  royal 
letters,  had  been  so  audacious  as  to  send  a  body  of  armed  men 
to  wavlay  the  bearer,  whom  they  wounded  and  robbed  of  his 
bundle  of  despatches.'  Incensed  beyond  measure  at  the  insult 
to  his  authority,  Henry  resorted  to  a  measure  of  retaliation  as 
coarse  as  it  was  cowardly.  At  a  public  ball  in  the  Louvre, 
where,  in  the  absence  of  the  queens,  his  wife  and  his  mother, 
Margaret  of  Navarre  occupied  the  first  rank  in  honor,  the  king 
approached  her,  and  without  a  word  of  warning  began  to  re- 
count, in  the  hearing  of  the  assembled  crowd  of  courtiers  and 
ladies,  the  shameful  course  of  her  recent  amours.  He  gave  the 
names  of  her  numerous  lovers,  and  described  their  unlawful 
visits  with  such  minuteness  as  might  have  been  expected  only 
from  an  eye-witness.  He  even  charged  her  with  having  re- 
cently given  birth  to  a  child,  the  fruit  of  adulterous  connection 
with  the  grand  equerry  of  the  Duke  of  Anjou  ;  and  concluded 
the  taunting  speech  by  ordering  her  to  free  the  court  of  her 
contaminating  presence  by  leaving  Paris  on  the  morrow.  Nor 
was  this  all.  AVlien  the  Queen  of  JSTavarre  had  hastily  started, 
with  such  escort  as  she  could  obtain,  in  the  difection  of  Gas- 
cony,  she  was  overtaken,  at  the  distance  of  a  few  miles  from 
the  capital,  between  Palaiseau  and  Sainte  Claire,  by  a  troop  of 
arquebusiers  under  command  of  a  captain  of  the  king's  guard. 
The  very  litter  in  which  Margaret  travelled  was  stopped,  and 
the  queen  was  roughly  ordered  to  unmask,  while  some  of  her 
companions  were  arrested  and  taken  to  Ferrieres  and  even  to 
the  Bastile,  there  to  be  subjected  to  a  judicial  examination." 

It  had  long  been  well  known  that  between  Henry  of  Xavarre 
and  his  wife  little  love  was  lost ;  none  the  less,  however,  did 
the  prince  feel  himself  called  upon  to  demand  an  explanation 
of  the  insult  offered  to  his  house,  and  a  reparation  of  his 


'  The  story  is  detailed  in  Miss  Freer's  Henry  the  Third,  ii.  334,  etc.,  at 
greater  length  than  is  here  necessary.  The  scandalous  life  of  Margaret  of 
Navarre  is  told,  and  exaggerated,  in  Le  Divorce  Satyrique,  on  Les  Amours  de 
la  Reyne  Marguerite,  Memoires  de  Henry  III.,  187,  etc. 

Busbecq.  iibi  supra ;  Busini  to  the  grand  duke,  August  22,  1583,  Negocia- 
tions  avec  la  Toscane,  iv.  468  ;  Lestoile,  i.  164  ;  Negotiation  de  M.  Duplessis 
vers  le  roy  Henry  III.,  Aoust,  1583,  Memoires  de  Duplessis  Mornay,  ii.  364,  etc. 


240 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.       Cu.  IV. 


honor.  But  no  satisfactory  answer  could  the  king  give.  In 
fact,  heartily  sorry  and  somewhat  ashamed  of  the  length  to 
which  his  passion  had  carried  him,  he  assured  Duplessis  Mornay 
and  Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  Navarre's  envoys,  that  he  had  since 
learned  the  falsity  of  the  charges  made  against  his  sister.  But 
when  the  Huguenot  gentlemen  insisted  upon  some  positive 
atonement  in  place  of  dilatory  promises  and  vague  generalities, 
and  called  his  attention  to  the  fact  that  he  had  done  either  too 
much  or  too  little — too  much,  if  his  sister  were  innocent,  too 
little,  if  she  were  guilty — they  found  that  they  had  to  deal  with 
a  monarch  whose  ideas  were  those  of  an  eastern  tyrant  rather 
than  the  sentiments  of  a  Christian  and  magnanimous  ruler. 
How,  they  asked,  shall  it  be  said  that  the  King  of  Navarre  has 
received  his  w^ife,  taking  her  at  the  hands  of  her  brother  thus 
foully  smirched  —  "  tout  barbouillee  ?  "  "  How  ? "  he  re- 
sponded. "  As  the  sister  of  a  king."  "  Yes,  but  a  just  king," 
was  their  quiet  retort.  And  when  Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  in  his 
excitement,  accounting  delay  the  equivalent  of  a  denial  of  jus- 
tice, proposed,  on  his  master's  behalf,  to  renounce  the  honoi- 
of  the  king's  ^alliance  and  friendship,  the  latter  exclaimed  : 
"  Go  home  and  tell  your  master,  since  thus  you  dare  to  style 
him,  that  should  he  take  that  course,  I  shall  place  upon  his 
shoulders  a  load  under  which  the  shoulders  of  the  Grand  Seign- 
ior himself  would  bend.  Tell  him  that,  and  be  off ;  he  needs 
such  men  as  yon."  "Yes,  sire,"  the  intrepid  Huguenot  an- 
swered, "he  has  been  brought  np  and  has  grown  under  the 
load  with  which  you  threaten  him.  If  you  do  him  justice,  he 
will  do  homage  to  your  majesty  for  his  life,  his  lands,  and  the 
men  he  has  gained  ;  but  his  honor,  sire,  he  will  enslave 
neither  to  you  nor  to  living  prince,  so  long  as  he  has  a  bit  of  a 
sword  in  his  grasp."  ' 

While  maintaining,  despite  affront  and  neglect,  unswerving 
loyalty  to  their  sovereign,  and  turning  a  deaf  ear  to  the  seduc- 

'  Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  Histoire  universelle,  ii.  415  ;  Memoires,  493,  494  ; 
Confession  catholique  de  Sancy,  421  ;  Negotiation  de  M.  Duplessis,  Memoires, 
ii.  371,  372.  See,  also,  Harangue  au  roi  Henri  III.,  faite  par  M.  de  Pibrac 
pour  le  roi  de  Navarre,  etc.,  Cimber  et  Danjou,  Archives  curieuses.  x.  187- 
200. 


1583. 


THE  UNCERTAIN  PEACE. 


241 


tions  of  the  Spanish  king,  the  Huguenots  were  not  neglectful 
of  the  means  of  self-defence.  Peace,  indeed,  prevailed,  and  the 
rights  of  the  professors  of  the  purer  faith  were,  within  certain 
circumscribed  limits,  recognized  by  royal  edicts  having  every 
sanction  known  by  the  law.  But  no  prudent  man  could  help 
foreseeing  trouble  in  the  near  future.  Protestantism  had  to 
do  in  France,  as  elsewhere,  with  an  undying  enemy.  The 
king  might  seek  peace  through  love  for  quiet  and  repose ; 
Catharine  de'  Medici  might  deprecate  a  renewal  of  hostilities  as 
unlikely  to  result  in  any  accession  to  her  influence  in  the  state ; 
the  great  majority  of  the  nation  might  denounce  war  as  the 
certain  precursor  of  ruin  to  countless  homes ;  but  the  Roman 
Catholic  clergy  remained  unmoved  in  its  fixed  determination  to 
suffer  no  lasting  agreement  to  subsist  with  the  heretics  who  de- 
spised its  authority  and  refused  obedience  to  its  conunands.  In 
the  recent  introduction  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  this  intolerant 
spirit  had  received  a  marked  accession  of  strength, 
and  the"'  for,  if  the  last  to  enter  the  kingdom,  the  Jesuits  bade 
League.  soon  to  outstrip  all  their  ecclesiastical  competitors 

in  the  race  for  wealth  and  power.'  The  League  was  by  no 
means  dead,  whatever  the  king  might  say  or  think.  The  thought 
of  new  wars,  of  fresh  massacres,  was  never  permitted  to  fade 
from  the  minds  of  devotees ;  it  furnished  the  staple  of  count- 
less sermons  in  every  part  of  France.  As  for  the  Guises  and 
their  confederates,  it  was  matter  of  public  notoriety  that  a  close 
correspondence  was  maintained  between  them  and  the  courts 
of  Spain  and  Rome,  looking  to  the  renewal  of  the  strife  with 
the  Protestants  under  more  favorable  circumstances.  The  pope, 
moreover,  through  his  nuncio,  again  applied,  and  with  more 


'  Jehan  de  la  Fosse  chronicles,  in  February,  1580,  that  this  grasping  order 
had  involved  itself  in  a  quarrel  with  the  curates  of  the  capital  by  erecting  a 
house  near  the  Porte  Saint  Antoine,  in  which  they  installed  some  of  their 
brethren,  authorized  by  a  pretended  papal  bull  to  administer  the  sacraments 
in  any  parish  of  the  city.  "  Lesdicts  Jesuites,"  he  adds,  "  entrerent  en  ceste 
ville  comme  pauvres,  toutefois  tost  apres  devinrent  riches."  Journal  d'un 
euro  ligueur,  184.  "  Les  Ji'suites,  qui  sont  les  boutefeux  de  I'inquisition, 
croissent  de  jour  en  jour  en  auctorite."  Raisons  pour  induire  le  roy  a  ac- 
eorder  la  prolongation  des  places,  etc.  Mt-moires  de  Duplessis  Mornay,  ii.  361. 
Vol.  I.— 1G 


242 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HE^^^Y  OF  NAVARRE        Cn.  IV. 


urgency  than  had  been  displayed  on  any  previous  occasion,  for 
the  reception  of  the  decrees  of  the  Council  of  Trent.  Although 
the  project  again  failed  (not  so  much  because  of  any  zeal  of 
the  king  in  defence  of  the  liberties  of  the  Galilean  Church  as 
because  its  success  would  be  interpreted  as  a  sure  prelude  of  the 
introduction  of  the  Inquisition,  so  held  in  horror  that  the  very 
prospect  would  create  fresh  commotions),  it  was  signiticant  that 
the  present  moment  should  have  been  selected  for  the  attempt.' 

Under  these  circumstances  it  was  not  strange  that  Henry  of 
jSTavarre  should  espouse  the  plan  of  uniting  all  the  Protestant 
princes  and  states  of  Christendom  in  a  confederation  for  mutual 
protection  against  the  assaults  of  their  common  enemies.  To 
this  course  he  was  perhaps  the  more  encouraged  by  the  knowl- 
edge of  an  incident  of  recent  occurrence  across  the  British 
Channel. 

If  Queen  Elizabeth  was  generally  cold  and  irresponsive,  if 
in  her  island  home  she  often  seemed  selfishly  indifferent  to 
the  claims  of  the  Protestants  on  the  continent,  exposed  as  they 
were  to  the  rude  buffetings  of  cruel  fortune,  there  were  those 
among  her  subjects,  and  even  at  her  council-board,  who  more 
correctly  estimated  the  services  of  what  might  properly  be 
styled  the  advance-giiard  of  the  Reformation,  and  who  sin- 
cerely desired  that  the  heroism  it  displayed  should  be  duly  re- 
quited. When  Geneva  was  again  made  the  victim  of  Romish 
plots,  when  its  revenues  were  diminished,  and  its  very  exist- 
ence was  imperilled,  a  cliord  of  sympatln'  was  touched  which 
thrilled  every  truly  patriotic  soul  in  the  great  commonwealth 
of  Reformed  States.  Then  did  the  queen's  best  and  most 
trusted  advisers  send  forth  an  appeal  to  "  the  wealthier  clergy 
and  other  godly,  to  contribute  of  that  blessing  that  God  hath 
bestowed  upon  them  toward  the  relief  of  that  poor  afflicted 


'  Busbecq,  under  date  of  July  3,  1583,  Epistola21.  "Cepandant,  c'est  de 
lors  qu'on  commence  de  plus  belle  a  brasser  avec  le  pape  una  ligue  generale  a 
r  extermination  de  tous  ceulx  de  la  relligion  ;  que  le  nonce  faict  plus  grande 
instance  qu'il  n'avoit  mesmes  faict  apres  les  massacres  de  la  reception  et  pub- 
lication du  Concile  de  Trente  et  introduction  de  I'inquisition."  Justification 
des  actions  du  roy  de  Navarre  (July  6,  1583),  Memoires  de  Duplessis  Mornay, 
ii.  302.    Cf.,  also,  ii.  361. 


1577. 


PROTESTANT  FEDERATION. 


243 


town ;  which,"  said  they,  "  in  some  part  may  seem  to  have  de- 
served the  fruits  of  Christian  compassion,  by  former  courtesies 
and  favors  shewed  to  sundry  her  majesty's  subjects,  in  tlie 
time  of  tlie  late  persecution  in  Queen  Mary's  reign."  The 
royal  treasury  could  not  be  called  upon,  such  were  the  drafts 
made  upon  the  queen's  resources  by  the  troubles  of  Ireland  ; 
but  Burleigh  and  Walsingham,  Warwick  and  Leicester,  with 
their  associates,  whose  names  are  signed  to  the  charitable  ap- 
peal, felt  themselves  fully  warranted  in  urging  the  English 
bishops  to  interest  themselves  in  securing  from  their  dioceses 
a  generous  assistance  for  the  city  of  Calvin,  and  this,  not 
merely  as  a  Christian  duty,  but  as  a  mark  of  personal  respect. 
"  So,"  wrote  they  to  the  Bishop  of  Chester,  "  shall  you  give  us 
cause  to  think  that  you  not  only  care,  as  in  Christian  compas- 
sion you  are  bound,  to  relieve  the  present  distress  of  that  poor 
town,  which,  through  God's  goodness,  hath  served  in  this  lat- 
ter age  for  a  nursery  xmto  God's  church,  but  also  to  satisf}'' 
this  our  request."  ' 

The  idea  of  opposing  the  designs  of  the  papacy,  now  sup- 
posed to  have  succeeded  in  banding  all  the  forces  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  world  for  the  destruction  of  Protestantism,  by  means 
Proposed  TTni-  of  ^  Universal  league  of  the  professors  of  the  re- 
Imong  Protes-  formed  doctrines  was  not  a  new  one.  We  have  seen 
that  the  National  Synod  of  Sainte  Foy,  in  1578,  had 
expressed  its  hearty  approval  of  the  conference  held  at  Frank- 
fort, during  the  course  of  the  preceding  autumn,  under  the 
patronage  of  a  tried  friend  of  the  Huguenots,  John  Casimir, 
count  palatine — a  conference  in  which,  to  use  the  words  of 
the  official  record  of  the  synod,  "  there  were  proposed  several 
very  expedient  means,  and  some  very  appropriate  and  effectual 
remedies,  foi*  uniting  closely  together  the  reformed  churches  of 
the  Christian  world,  as  well  as  for  suppressing  and  putting  an 
end  to  all  the  differences  and  contests  which  our  enemies  have 
called  forth  between  them,  and  preventing  a  few  fanatical  and 

•  Lords  of  the  Council  to  the  Bishop  of  Chester,  Richmond,  January  28, 
lo8f.  Printed  in  Francis  Peck's  Desiderata  Curiosa  ;  or,  a  Collection  of  di- 
vers scarce  and  curious  Pieces  relating  chiefly  to  Matters  of  Englisli  History 
(London,  1779),  i.  133. 


244 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.       Ch.  IV. 


bigoted  theologians  from  condemning,  as  they  have  threatened 
and  declared  their  intention  to  condemn  and  anathematize, 
tlie  largest  and  soundest  part  of  the  reformed  churches  which 
are  at  a  distance."  ' 

Nor  would  it  seem  that  the  Queen  of  England  had  at  this 
time  been  less  deeply  impressed  than  Casimir  himself  with  the 
importance  of  coming  to  the  succor  of  the  French  and  other 
Protestants  menaced  with  destruction,  for  she  sent  to  Heidel- 
berg a  special  messenger,  a  member  of  her  own  privy  council, 
the  chief  part  of  whose  instructions  was  to  express  her  maj- 
esty's vehement  desire  that  a  union  might  be  formed  between 
all  those  princes  that  had  shaken  off  the  papal  yoke.^ 

These  were,  however,  but  vague  desires  and  attempts,  prose- 
cuted with  too  ill-defined  a  plan  to  secure  their  end.  Unfortu- 
nately, if  a  few  of  the  German  princes  appreciated  its  importance, 
there  were  others — and  they  were  among  the  most  powerful— 
to  whom  the  trifling  differences  of  faith  between  Lutheran  and 
Reformed  seemed  almost  as  momentous  as  the  differences  be- 
tween the  common  creed  of  both  and  the  doctrines  of  the  Church 
of  Rome.  Although  posted  in  the  very  forefront  of  the  battle, 
and  awaiting  only  the  signal  that  should  bring  on  a  general  en- 
gagement between  the  marshalled  forces  of  the  despotic  system 
of  the  papacy  and  the  champions  of  the  Reformation,  there  were 
leaders  upon  the  latter  side  who  dared  to  insist  upon  settling  the 
minor  disputes  subsisting  in  the  Protestant  ranks,  even  in  face 
of  the  enemy — leaders  who  seemed  not  to  dream  that  in  so  doing 
they  were  playing  false  to  their  principles  and  jeoparding  the 
sacred  cause  of  liberty  and  truth.  Who  shall  say  that  with  a 
different  appreciation  of  the  claims  of  loyalty  to  their  allies, 
with  a  higher  and  more  disinterested  view  of  the  mutual  rela- 
tions of  the  several  divisions  of  the  one  great  Protestant  host. 


'  Aymon,  Tons  les  synodes,  i.  131.    See  supra,  c.  iii.  p.  175. 

'  So  the  veteran  diplomatist,  Hubert  Laiiguet,  had  been  informed  by  tlie 
Englishman.  ' '  Nondum  satis  intellexi  quaenam  habeat  mandata  a  sua  regina, 
nisi  quod  in  genere  mihi  dixit  suam  reginam  valde  cupere,  ut  ineatur  con- 
cordia  inter  eos  principes  qui  jugum  pontificium  excusserunt,  eamque  esse 
praecipuam  causam  suae  legatiouis. ''  Letter  from  Frankfort,  September  23, 
1577,  Epistolre  secretse,  i.  330. 


1583. 


PROTESTANT  FEDERATION. 


245 


the  Elector  of  Saxony  and  the  princes  that  sympathized  with 
his  narrow  views  might  not  have  rendered  the  long  struggle  of 
the  League  an  impossibility,  by  preventing  Philip  the  Second 
from  pouring  into  France  the  treasures  of  Spain  and  ravaging 
lier  fair  territory  by  means  of  troops  paid  with  Spanish  gold  ? 
Who  can  even  maintain  confidently  that  such  a  Protestant  con- 
federation as  that  which  they  were  ineffectually  begged  to  join 
might  not  have  forestalled  the  carnage  and  the  unspeakable 
misery  of  a  Thirty  Years'  War  ? 

It  was  at  the  very  moment  when  the  minds  of  Queen  Eliza- 
beth and  the  French  Huguenots  had  begun  to  turn  to  the  im- 
The  "Formu-  portancc,  or,  rather,  the  absolute  necessity,  of  a  good 
' understanding  among  all  the  members  of  the  Prot- 
estant family  (1577),  that  the  great  champion  of  Lutheran  or- 
thodoxy, James  Andrete,  with  the  aid  of  divers  other  theolo- 
gians, completed,  in  the  old  Benedictine  cloisters  of  Bergen, 
near  Magdeburg,  the  famous  "  Formula  of  Concord'' — "For- 
mula Concordife."  The  document  that  had  been  so  carefully 
and  satisfactorily  prepared  to  harmonize  the  views  of  both 
wings  of  the  adherents  of  the  Augsburg  Confession,  and  unite 
"  Lutherans  "  and  "  Philippists  "  in  one  common  confession, 
proved  the  apple  of  discord  for  the  greater  Protestant  world. 
The  "formula"  not  only  settled  for  Germany  the  doctrines  of 
the  ubiquity  of  Christ's  body,  and  the  presence  of  that  body 
with  the  bread  and  wine  in  the  Lord's  Supper,  but  condemned 
in  no  measured  terms  the  views  of  the  rest  of  the  Protestant 
world.'  Such  a  work  was  well  calculated  to  widen  and  render 
lasting  the  breach  between  the  two  confessions. 

Undismayed  by  this  untoward  incident,  Henry  of  Navarre 
had  resolved  to  convert  into  a  reality  tlie  vision  of  a  great 
Protestant  union  that  had  hitherto  seemed  to  recede 
Himry  of  Na-  in  proportioii  to  the  ardor  with  which  it  was  pursued. 

If  we  may  credit  his  own  assurances,  it  had  been  his 
first  intention,  so  soon  as  peace  was  once  more  firmly  secured 
to  the  Huguenots,  liimself  to  undertake  a  journey  that  should 


'  Such  expressions  as  the  following  can  scarcfly  be  regarded  as  conciliatory : 
"Prorsus  rejicimus  atque  damnamus  capernaiticam  manducationem  corporis 


246 


THK  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.        Cii.  IV, 


iuclude  a  visit  to  the  courts  of  all  the  monavchs  and  to  the 
dominions  of  all  the  states  making  profession  of  the  Protestant 
faith.  He  would  have  crossed  to  Great  Britain  and  made  the 
personal  acquaintance  of  Queen  Elizabeth  and  young  James 
the  Sixth  of  Scotland.  Thence  he  would  have  pursued  his  way 
to  the  Netherlands,  to  Denmark,  to  Sweden,  to  Germany. 
Such  a  visit  would  have  been  fruitful  of  good,  for  it  might  have 
bound  the  Protestant  princes  in  a  friendship  secured  by  Gor- 
dian  knots.'  Unable,  on  account  of  the  continued  state  of  dis- 
turbance prevailing  in  France,  to  engage  in  person  in  this  im- 
portant undertaking,  the  King  of  Kavarre  brought  his  proposal 
of  a  general  Protestant  union  before  the  National  Synod  of 
Yitre  (May,  1583),  where  the  first  steps  toward  a  practical  solu- 
tion of  the  difficult  problem  were  taken.  It  was  an  auspicious 
moment  when  the  representatives  of  two  independent  churches 
of  the  Reformation — the  churches  of  France  and  of  the  Nether- 
lands— solemnly  affixed  their  signatures  to  each  other's  Confes- 
sion of  Faith  and  Book  of  Discipline,  in  attestation  of  their 
perfect  harmony,"  By  this  synod  the  King  of  Navarre  was 
unanimously  begged  to  pursue  the  project  which  he  had 
explained,  and  to  employ  as  envoys  to  all  the  Protestant 
princes  and  states  of  Christendom  men  of  authority,  piety,  and 
sound  doctrine.'  It  would  appear  that  the  synod  suggested 
as  the  most  proper  person  for  conducting  this  delicate  mission 
the  learned  and  versatile  Duplessis  Mornay,  to  whose  rapid  and 
animated  pen  we  owe  so  large  a  portion  of  the  striking  corre- 
Missionofs6-  spoudeuce  of  this  period  going  under  the  name  of 
gur  Pardaiuan.  }^jg  niaster,  Heury  of  Navarre.  It  was,  therefore,  not 
without  a  tinge  of  disappointment  that  the  churches  and  Du- 
plessis Mornay  himself  saw  the  negotiation  intrusted  to  Mon- 


Christi,  quam  nobis  Sacramentarii  contra  suse  conscientise  testimonium  post  tot 
nostras  protestationes  malitiose  affingunt,  quasi  videlicet  doceamus,  '  etc. 

'  Henry  of  Navarre  to  John  III.  of  Sweden,  July  15,  1583,  Lettres  missives, 
i.  532.    See  also  his  letter  to  the  Elector  Augustus  of  Saxony,  ibid.,  i.  535. 

^  "  Oii  nous  eusmes  cest  heur  devoir  les  figlises  de  Flandres,  par  I'envoy  de 
leurs  depputez,  unies  en  doctrine  et  confession  avec  les  nostres."  Henry  of 
Navarre  to  the  churches  (about  the  end  of  1583).    Lettres  missives,  i.  GIG. 

2  Ibid. ,  ubi  supra. 


15S3. 


PROTESTANT  FEDERATION. 


247 


sieur  de  Segur  Pardaillan,  who,  as  superintendent  of  the  king's 
house  and  finances,  at  this  time  exercised  a  controlling  influence 
in  the  management  of  affairs.  The  selection  was  regarded  as 
injudicious  by  that  portion  of  the  Huguenots  known  as  the  "  cou- 
sistorial  party  " — men  with  whom  the  religious  element  greatly 
predominated  over  the  political ;  men  whom  we  must  regard  as 
the  veiy  heart  of  the  movement,  because  their  devotion  to  it 
depended  not  upon  attachment  to  the  person  of  their  master, 
but  upon  their  conscientious  conviction  of  duty.  Segur  was  a 
naan  of  restless  activity,  but  impulsive  and  even  violent  in  his 
conduct,  and  more  likely  to  offend  by  his  roughness  than  con- 
ciliate by  his  address.'  Besides,  he  was  not  inaccessible  to  the 
approaches  of  flattery.  On  one  occasion,  after  sturdily  oppos- 
ing the  acceptance  by  the  King  of  Xavarre  of  an  invitation  of 
Henry  the  Third  to  visit  the  French  court,  Segur  disgusted  his 
friends  by  as  strongly  advocating  the  journey.  The  change  in 
his  sentiments  was  the  result  of  the  attentions  shown  to  him 
during  a  trip  to  Paris  which  he  was  indiiced  to  take.  And  he 
would  probably  have  succeeded  in  persuading  Henry  to  go,  had 
not  blunt  Agrippa  d'Aubigne  interposed.  Taking  Segur  one 
day  to  a  Avindow  of  the  castle  of  Xerac  overlooking  the  waters 
of  the  Bayse,  he  quietly  pointed  to  the  precipitous  rocks  below, 
and  told  him :  "  I  am  commissioned  by  all  the  good  people 
here  to  tell  you  that  this  is  the  leap  you  will  have  to  take  the 
day  our  master  starts  for  the  court  of  France."  And  when 
Segur,  surprised,  as  may  be  imagined,  at  such  a  suggestion, 
asked  who  would  dare  to  make  him  take  it,  D'Aubigne,  una- 
bashed, replied  :  "  I  shall  do  it,  and  if  I  cannot  do  it  alone,  here 
are  those  that  will  assist  me."  Segur  turned  his  head  only  to 
see  ten  or  twelve  of  the  most  determined  Huguenot  captains, 

'The  Life  of  Duplessis  Morn  ay  styles  Segur  "  homme  violent,  vehement 
et  trusque  de  son  naturel,"  and  says  that  the  churches  desisted  from  the 
farther  prosecution  of  the  matter,  "la  voians  en  main  d'une  personne  turbii- 
lente,  qui  n'estoit  pas  pour  la  faire  reussir,  pareequ'il  avoit  en  luy  plus  de 
zele  que  de  science."  Duplessis  Mornay  expresses  himself  in  similar  terms  in 
a  note  to  De  Thou,  vi.  (liv.  79)  355,  from  which  we  learn  the  interesting  fact 
that,  although  Segur  received  the  appointment  as  envoy,  Duplessis  Mornay 
drew  up  the  greater  part  of  the  documentary  papers — "j'en  dressay  nean 
moins  toutes  les  depcches." 


2iS  THE  HUGUEXOTS  AXD  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.      Cn.  IV. 


wlio  had  drawn  down  their  hats  over  their  eyes,  as,  the  faith- 
ful chronicler  tells  us,  they  were  accustomed  to  do  when  any- 
one looked  them  too  steadily  in  the  face  without  knowing  what 
was  the  matter  in  hand.  Xeedless  to  say,  Segur  did  not  fur- 
ther urge  the  journey  of  Xavarre  to  Paris.' 

Was  it  because  of  any  mistakes  on  the  part  of  the  envoy  that 
the  mission  of  Segur  did  not  realize  all  the  success  that  had 
been  hoped  for,  or  were  the  intrinsic  difficulties  of  the  case  too 
great  to  be  sui-mounted  by  even  greater  abilities  than  he  pos- 
sessed ?  I  am  inclined  to  believe  the  latter  supposition  to  be 
correct.  In  justice  to  Segur,  it  must  be  said  that  Henry  of 
Ivavarre  never  seems  to  have  entertained  any  sentiments  but 
tliose  of  unlimited  confidence  in  the  sagacity  and  fidelity  of  his 
ambassador,  and  certainly  his  extant  letters  furnish  ample  testi- 
mony to  the  complete  satisfaction  of  the  monarch  with  the  mode 
in  which  the  instructions  given  were  carried  out. 

The  document  embodying  these  instructions,  and  especially 
that  part  which  refers  to  England,  deserves  more  than  a  pass- 
ing notice.  It  dwells  at  length  upon  the  dangers  to  which  the 
Protestants,  not  only  of  France,  but  of  all  Europe,  are  exposed. 
The  envoy'*  Since  the  scaudalous  attempt  of  the  Duke  of  Anjou 
instructions,  bccome  mastcr  of  Antwerp,  says  the  writer,  the 
Huguenots  have  lost  the  last  spark  of  hope  based  upon  the  pro- 
mised succor  of  that  prince.  Indeed,  the  duke  would  have  liked 
to  sell  to  the  Spaniards  the  places  held  by  him  in  the  Xether- 
lauds,  and  has  sent  Giulio  Birago  (Birague)  to  the  pope  to  ex- 
press his  devotion  to  the  Roman  See,  and  request  his  holiness 
to  bring  about  a  marriage  between  him  (Anjou)  and  a  daughter 
of  the  King  of  Spain.  His  desire  is  to  conquer  a  kingdom  for 
himself  in  England.  Great,  therefore,  is  Queen  Elizabeth's 
peril,  especially  from  the  quarter  of  Scotland,  for  whose  youth- 
ful monarch  she  would  do  well,  as  speedily  as  possible,  to  provide 
a  suitable  marriage.  Xo  more  appropriate  bride  could  be  found 
than  the  sister  of  the  King  of  Xavarre.  Meanwhile  Queen 
Elizabeth  should  exert  her  influence  to  incline  the  Protestant 
princes  of  Germany  to  favor  an  alliance  of  all  the  adherents  of 


'  Memoires  de  Theodore  Agrippa  d  Aubigne,  494. 


1583. 


PROTESTANT  FEDERATION. 


249 


the  Reformation.  Tliese  princes  were  formerly  insensible,  but 
have  now  awakened  to  the  dangers  threatening  them  from  the 
direction  of  Austria.  Besides,  now  that  the  Archbishop  of 
Cologne  has  become  a  Protestant,  they  can  control  the  future 
settlement  of  the  empire,  since  they  have  four  out  of  the  seven 
electors  on  their  side.  The  only  obstacle  to  the  alliance  is  the 
divergence  of  views  between  the  Lutherans  and  the  Heformed 
respecting  the  Lord's  Supper.  Let  the  decision  of  this  question 
be  referred  to  a  general  council  or  synod  of  the  churches  of  the 
Keformation  ;  and,  imtil  this  be  convened,  let  all  unite  in  good 
friendship  and  silence  useless  contentions.  The  King  of  Den- 
mark has  already  used  his  kind  offices  with  the  Elector  of 
Saxony,  his  brother-in-law,  and  the  elector  has  moderated  his 
rigor  toward  those  professing  the  views  held  by  Calvin,  and  has 
begun  to  show  less  favor  to  certain  theological  doctors  long  act- 
ing as  firebrands  in  Germany.  Queen  Elizabeth's  influence 
Avould  be  great  with  the  Saxon  prince,  and  he  would,  doubtless, 
be  ready  to  join  her  in  a  Protestant  confederation,  seeing  the  in- 
trigues daily  fomented  against  him  by  the  Jesuits.  An  English 
nobleman  of  prominence,  Philip  Sidney,  for  example,  ought  to  be 
despatched  to  Denmark  and  Germany.  After  this  the  princes, 
the  imperial  cities,  and  the  Swiss,  not  to  speak  of  the  inhabitants 
of  the  Netherlands,  could  easily  be  persuaded  to  throw  in  their 
lot  with  England  and  Protestant  France.  In  case  of  hostilities 
each  state  woiildbe  expected  to  contribute  according  to  its  means. 
The  plan  of  a  league  sketched  many  years  since,  between  Henry 
the  Eighth,  the  queen's  father,  and  the  Protestant  princes,  might 
serve  as  a  model  for  the  new  alliance.  In  this  Henry  Tudor 
offered  to  contribute  to  the  common  fund  as  much  as  should  be 
given  by  any  two  of  the  electors.  Queen  Elizabeth,  it  is  suggested, 
may  deposit  in  Germany  a  sum  of  two  or  three  hundred  thousand 
crowns,  to  be  employed  in  the  defence  of  any  part  of  the  Protest- 
ant world  that  may  be  attacked.  The  King  of  Navarre  will 
also  send  money  to  Germany,  as  well  as  a  great  quantity  of 
jewellery,  the  avails  of  which  can  be  used  for  the  good  cause.' 


'  "  Instruction  pour  traicter  avec  la  royne  d'Angleterre  et  aultres  princes 
estrangers  protestans,  baillee  par  le  roy  de  Navarre  au  sieur  de  Scgur,  y  allant 


250 


THE  HUGUKS'OTS  AXD  HEXRY  OF  NAVARRE.       Ch.  IV. 


Besides  the  document  of  which  this  summary  of  the  most  im- 
portant part  may  suffice,  Segur  was  provided  with  a  "  justifica- 
The-justifi-  tion of  the  King  of  Kavarre's  actions  in  the  past, 
S^King°of  step  now  taken.    The  grievances  of  the 

Ksvarre.  Hugueuots  therein  set  forth  are  ah-eady  in  great  part 
familiar  to  the  reader.  Especially  does  the  writer  emphasize 
the  evidence  of  the  existence  of  a  general  league  for  the  exter- 
mination of  all  French  Protestants,  found  in  the  urgency  of 
the  papal  nuncio  for  the  publication  of  the  decrees  of  the 
Council  of  Trent  and  the  introduction  of  the  Inquisition,  in  the 
favor  shown  to  the  Jesuits,  and  in  the  systematic  attempts  to 
abase  the  King  of  Xavarre  and  cut  off  his  means  of  maintain- 
ing his  authority.' 

It  must  not,  however,  be  supposed  that  in  an  age  in  which,  if 
the  means  of  communication  were  less  direct  than  at  present, 
and  the  channels  of  information,  consequently,  far  more  diffi- 
cult, compensation  was  made  by  the  extraordinary  activity  of 
salaried  spies,  the  King  of  France  could  long  remain  ignorant 
of  the  undertaking  of  his  cousin  of  Xavarre.  Xor  was  the 
latter  much  surprised  to  receive,  within  a  few  months,  vigorous 
remonstrances  from  the  court  of  Paris,  with  no  obscure  intima- 
tions that  his  boldness  in  undertaking  to  send  out  ambassadoi's 
was  interpreted  as  an  offence  falling  little  short  of  the  crime  of 
treason."  But  to  complaints  and  threats,  whether  by  letter  or 
by  voice  of  messenger,  the  Bearnese  replied  with  right  kinglj' 
dignity  and  honest  pride.  "  Besides  the  fact,"  he  wrote  on  one 


de  sa  part  en  juillet  1583 ;  dressee  et  minutee  par  M.  Dnplessis. ''  Memoires  de 
Duplessis  Mornay,  ii.  273-294. 

'  "Justification  des  actions  du  roy  de  Xavarre,  baillee  au  sienr  de  Segur, 
pour  le  mesme  voyaige  que  dessus,  le  6  juillet,  1583.  "    Ibid.,  ii.  295-308. 

-  When  Bellievre,  Henry  III. 's  envoy,  urged  the  King  of  Navarre  to  take 
back  Margaret  of  Valois,  he  refused  to  see  her  again  until  the  French  garrisons 
should  have  been  withdrawn  from  ten  leagues  around  Nerac  (i.e.,  from  Agen, 
Condom,  and  Bazas),  on  the  ground  that  he  was  menaced  in  his  principal 
abode,  and,  to  use  Henry  III.  s  own  words,  "  considerant  le  mescontentement 
que  j'avois  de  la  negociation  de  Segur,  il  estime  que  je  le  tiens  pour  criminel 
de  leze  majeste,  et  partant  qu'il  avoit  d'autant  plus  a  se  garder  et  penser  a  la 
conservation  de  sa  vie."  Henry  III.  to  Bellievre,  January  4,  1584,  Lettres 
missives,  i.  625. 


1583. 


PROTESTANT  FEDERATION. 


251 


occasion,  "  that  Segur  has  no  commission  whatever  to  say  or  do 
anything  against  your  state  and  the  obedience  I  owe  to  yoiu- 
majesty,  I  have  always  believed,  monseigneur,  that 
piy\o"he  ^  having  been  born  in  niy  own  kingdom  and  sovereignty, 
piaSiw™nd  and  holding  the  title  and  right  by  succession  to  that 
threats.  kingdom  of  mine,  which  is  one  of  the  most  ancient, 
and  which  I  have  lost,  or  more  than  three-foui-ths  of  it,  for  the 
service  of  your  crown,  I  had  not,  nevertheless,  forfeited  the  right 
and  power  to  entertain  friendship  and  alliance,  like  the  other 
kings  and  princes  of  Christendom,  for  ihe  good  of  my  affairs  and 
the  union  of  the  confessions  of  the  religion  I  profess.  Many  of 
your  subjects  who  are  not  of  my  rank  are  left  nnreproved  for 
similar  acts,  or,  at  least,  do  not  cease  to  treat  with  strangers  re- 
specting any  matter  it  may  seem  good  to  them  to  treat  of."  ' 

In  similar  terms  was  Chassincourt,  a  special  envoy  for  the 
purpose,  instructed  to  explain  Segur's  mission.  '*  The  Dukes 
of  Lorraine  and  Longueville,"  he  was  to  say,  "  and  even  the 
seigneurs  de  la  Marck,  who  have  fiefs  in  French  territory,  are 
not  found  fault  with  because  of  their  undertaking  to  send  to 
foreign  states  ;  while  the  Dukes  of  Xemours  and  Guise  are  seen 
daily  treating  of  their  affairs  in  Italy,  Savoy,  and  Scotland, 
without  rebuke  from  their  sovereign  lord.  Much  more,  on  ac- 
count of  his  rank,  may  the  King  of  Xavarre  assume  the  right 
to  act  in  like  manner.  But  if  it  be  against  the  plan  proposed 
that  objection  is  made,  let  it  be  remembered  that  the  chief 
purpose  is  to  invite  all  Protestant  princes  to  a  synod  that  shall 
adjust  differences  in  the  interpretation  of  the  Holy  Scriptures. 
This,  which  is  a  purely  ecclesiastical  matter,  cannot  be  viewed  as 
just  ground  of  suspicion.  Besides,  the  princes  to  be  visited  are 
old  friends  of  France,  of  all  men  the  least  likely  to  disturb  its 
peace.  As  to  the  fund  of  money  which  the  King  of  IS^avarre 
is  said  to  have  intrusted  to  Segur  for  deposit  in  Germany,  he 
has  long  desired  to  place  half  a  million  of  crowns  in  that  coun- 
try to  draw  against,  and,  as  the  French  monarch  is  well  aware, 
for  lack  of  that  sum  he  has  been  compelled  more  than  once 
to  renounce  divers  great  enterprises.    Such  an  arrangement  is 


'  Henry  of  Navarre  to  Henry  III.,  February  8,  1584,  ibid.,  i.  G37. 


252 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.       Cu.  IV. 


certainly  unobjectionable,  if  tlie  end  contemplated  be  a  good 
one.  And  the  King  of  Navarre  has  ample  ground  of  complaint 
that  fault  is  found  with  his  course  in  this  regard,  whereas  none 
was  found  with  the  late  Cardinal  of  Lorraine  for  the  treasure 
he  kept  in  Venice,  or  with  the  present  members  of  the  house 
of  Guise  who,  as  everybody  knows,  have  a  store  of  money  in 
Germany.  Yet  the  projects  of  the  house  in  question  ought, 
in  the  judgment  of  the  wise,  to  be  looked  upon  with  far  more 
mistrust,  in  their  bearing  upon  the  King  of  France  and  his 
estate,  than  those  of  the  King  of  Xavarre.  The  King  of 
Navarre  is  naturally  great  only  in  the  greatness  of  that  estate, 
while  the  Guises  can  acquire  greatness  only  from  its  ruin."  ' 

However  complete  the  vindication  of  Henry  of  Xavari-e,  it 
cannot  be  denied  that  the  mission  of  Segur,  purposely  distorted 
in  its  aims  and  exaggerated  in  its  importance  by  the 

Segur's  mis-  .         /•    i      tt  t  i 

si.in  misrep-  eneuiies  01  the  Huguenots,  supplied  a  very  convenient 
instrument  to  the  advocates  of  the  "Holy  League" 
in  their  desperate  effort  to  rally  the  fanatical  portion  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  population  to  the  defence  of  tlieir  church  and 
the  struggle  to  annihilate  French  Protestantism.  Of  this  more 
will  appear  in  the  sequel. 

Upon  the  incidents  of  the  embassy  of  Segur  itself  it  is  not 
necessary  to  dwell  at  length,  especially  since  no  practical  results 
followed  the  protracted  and  wearisome  negotiation.  As  might 
have  been  anticipated,  the  plan  proposed  by  the  King  of  Navarre 
met  the  hearty  apj^roval  of  th.e  enlightened  Walsingham  and 
the  warm  concurrence  of  the  Prince  of  Orange  ;  while  Frederick 
the  Second  of  Denmark,  John  Casimir  in  the  Palatinate,  and  a 
few  other  princes  were  anxious  to  see  it  promptly  carried  into 
effect.  There  were  those,  however,  even  among  the  Protestant 
rulers  of  Germany,  who,  like  the  Elector  John  George  of  Bran- 
denburg, if  not  positively  hostile,  were  too  lukewarm,  in  view 
of  the  ill-success  of  previous  conferences  for  the  settlement  of 
theological  differences,  to  lend  it  any  hearty  support.  And  there 
were  others  who,  if  they  did  not  imitate  the  Elector  of  Saxony 


'  Instruction  de  ce  que  le  sieur  de  Chassinconrt  dira  au  roy  sur  le  voyaige  du 
sieurde  Segur,"  etc.,  Dec.  25,  1583.  Memoires  de  DuplessisMoruay,  ii.  398-401. 


1585. 


PROTESTANT  FEDERATION. 


253 


in  positively  refusing  to  grant  Segnr  an  audience,  were  never- 
theless resolved  to  liave  nothing  to  do  with  tlie  Calvinists  of 
France  until  these  should  have  renounced  their  views  regarding 
the  Lord's  Supper  as  a  preliminary  step  toward  rendering  a 
union  possible.  The  issue  of  the  whole  matter  was  that,  after 
Letter  of  keeping  Segur  waiting  an  entire  year,  the  German 
the  German    Protestaut  Driuces  of  the  more  extreme  type,  on  the 

Protestant  ^  ^  \ 

princes.  ;gi.st  of  Marcli,  1585,  addressed  to  the  King  of  Navarre 
a  reply  to  the  letters  and  instructions  laid  before  them  by  his 
representative.  This  extraordinary  paper  was  signed  by  Au- 
gustus, Elector  of  Saxony,  by  John  George,  Elector  of  Branden- 
burg, by  Joachim  Frederick,  Administrator  of  Magdebui-g,  by 
Philip  Lewis,  Count  Palatine  and  Duke  of  Zweibriicken  (Deux- 
ponts),  by  Julius  and  William,  Dukes  of  Brunswick-Liineburg, 
by  William,  Duke  of  Wiirtemberg,  and  Ulrich,  Duke  of  Meck- 
lenburg— in  short,  by  all  the  princes  who  had  approved  the 
"  Formula  Concordiee  "  and  enforced  its  adoption  in  their  do- 
minions. After  a  somewhat  lame  attempt  to  explain  their  long 
delay  in  answering  the  king's  polite  invitation,  the  German 
princes  entered  upon  a  discussion  which,  if  in  form  it  partook 
of  the  character  of  a  request,  was  in  reality  nothing  short  of  a 
lecture  addressed  to  their  royal  correspondent.  They  conceded 
that  the  Swiss  reformer  Zwingle  had,  at  the  Colloquy  of  Marbui'g 
in  1529,  retracted  many  of  his  errors ;  but  he  had  to  the  end 
retained  many  traces  of  his  original  mistakes.  As  to  Calvin  and 
his  followers,  the  German  theologians  had  discovered  in  their 
works  perversions  of  Scripture,  and  even  blasphemies,  so  numer- 
ous, and  errors  of  such  magnitude  respecting  the  person  of 
Christ  and  kindred  topics,  that  the  strife  about  the  Lord's 
Supper  had  almost  fallen  into  oblivion.  In  reply  to  the  sug- 
gestion made  by  the  King  of  Navarre  that  Protestants  ought  to 
imitate  the  cunning  of  the  papists,  who  suppress  their  mutual 
disputes  in  order  that  unitedly  they  may  wage  a  more  success- 
ful and  ruinous  war  upon  Luther  and  the  rest  of  the  reformers, 
the  princes  declare  that  the  policy  recommended  is  equally  dis- 
pleasing in  God's  sight  and  pernicious  to  the  churches.  Recon- 
ciliation of  the  kind  indicated  by  the  King  of  Navarre  is  wont 
to  be  of  short  duration.    So  the  history  of  the  past  and  present 


254: 


THE  HrGUENOTS  A^■D  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.      Ch.  IV. 


experience  combine  in  testifying.  The  princes  themselves  have 
found  that  the  best  way  of  promoting  concord  within  the  chm-ch 
is  by  explicitly  rejecting  and  condemning  erroneous  views,  and 
thus  proving  to  all  men  that  they  have  no  intention  that  every- 
body should  persist  in  his  own  view,  cherish  false  doctrines  in 
his  own  home,  and  cloak  them  from  external  observation  with 
the  mantle  of  concord.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  their  desire  that 
all  submit  themselves  to  God's  "Word,  which  alone  is  truth,  and 
according  to  it  believe,  decide,  and  instruct  others.  The  king's 
proposal  that,  in  anticipation  of  the  convening  of  a  universal 
council,  all  disputes  be  left  unsettled  and  the  wrangles  of  theo- 
logians be  checked,  would,  if  put  into  execution,  only  inflame 
the  righteous  indignation  of  the  preachers  of  the  "Word  of  God 
against  princes  Avho  sought  to  transform  them  into  dumb  dogs 
that  dare  not  bark  at  the  wolves  laying  waste  the  fold  of  Christ. 

So  far  from  endeavoring  to  reduce  to  its  smallest  dimensions 
the  difference  of  doctrine  between  Lutherans  and  Reformed, 
the  princes  seem  intent  rather  to  dwell  with  satisfaction  on  the 
impossibility  of  a  reconciliation.  For  they  take  pains  to  recall 
the  startling  declaration  of  Theodore  Beza,  at  the  Colloquy  of 
Poissy,  "  that  the  body  of  Jesus  Ckrist  is  as  far  removed  from 
the  bread  and  wine  as  the  highest  heaven  is  from  the  earth,"' 
and,  with  a  positiveness  that  would  have  seemed  more  suitable 
in  the  mouth  of  Cardinal  Tournon  and  his  brother  prelates  than 
in  the  mouth  of  Pj'otestants,  assert  that  it  is  clearer  than  the 
noonday  sun  that  between  Beza,  Duplessis,  and  Segur,  on  the 
one  side,  and  themselves  on  the  other,  no  agreement  respecting 
the  points  at  issue  could  be  found.  It  was  quite  in  keeping  with 
the  rest  of  the  communication,  that,  at  its  close,  the  princes 
offered  to  the  King  of  !Xavarre  a  copy  of  the  Formula  Con- 
cordite,  which  they  evidently  believed  might,  if  he  would  take 
the  trouble  to  read  it  and  compare  it  with  the  Holy  Scriptures, 
prove  the  means  of  his  conversion.  His  subscription  to  the 
work  of  Andrete  and  his  associates,  it  was  hinted,  would  give 
some  hope  of  future  peace  to  Christendom.' 


'  "  Responsio  Principum  Electorum,  etc.,  ad  RegemNavarrae,"  apud  G.  von 
Polenz,  iv.  402-105. 


1589. 


PROTESTANT  FEDERATION. 


255 


So  ungracious  an  answer  to  the  united  efforts  of  llenrj  and 
his  indefatigable  envoy  gave  a  death-blow  to  the  scheme.  Prot- 
estantism-must  go  on  suffering  all  the  baleful  results 

The  Bcheine 

receives  its  of  disuuion,  bccausB  of  the  narrowness  of  theologians 
and  the  stubborn  wilfulness  of  princes  who  would 
subordinate  no  doctrinal  statement,  however  little  it  might 
affect  the  great  and  fundamental  truths  of  Christianity,  to  the 
surpassing  importance  of  a  union  demanded  by  the  external 
relations  of  all  the  opponents  of  the  Roman  Catholic  system. 
The  Protestant  counter-league  must  be  abandoned  as  chimerical, 
because,  forsooth,  of  the  impracticability  of  persuading  the  in- 
habitants of  France  and  England  that  the  inhabitants  of  Ger- 
many were  right  in  ascribing  ubiquity  to  the  material  body  of 
Christ. 

As  for  Henry  of  Xavarre,  he  was  in  no  great  haste  to  acknowl- 
edge the  receipt  of  the  condescending  epistle  and  the  precious 
volume  accompanying  it.  Isot  particularly  drawn  to  literary 
Henry's  dis-  pursuits  Or  interested  in  docti'inal  discussions,  the 
appointment,  king,  wlio  felt  himsclf  to  be,  more  than  any  other 
man  living,  the  champion  of  the  faith,  engaged  in  a  desperate 
struggle,  hand  to  hand,  with  an  enemy  that  had  already  slain 
thousands  of  his  fellow-believers,  looked  with  pardonable  dis- 
gust upon  the  theological  treatise  thrust  into  his  hand  on  the 
eve  of  battle.  He  had  asked  bread,  and  his  good  and  kind 
friends  beyond  the  Rhine  had  offered  him  a  stone.  The  soldier, 
abandoned  at  his  post  by  the  allies  upon  whose  help  he  had  a 
good  right  to  count,  postponed  to  some  more  convenient  time 
and  place,  when  the  smoke  of  battle  and  the  roar  of  cannon 
should  have  ceased,  the  reading  of  their  polite  invitation  to  be 
converted  to  their  peculiar  tenets. 

Nearly  four  years  later,  after  the  stirring  events  which  -we 
shall  soon  be  called  to  contemplate,  after  the  King  of  France's 
craven  submission  to  the  dictation  of  the  Guises  and  the  League, 
after  the  revocatory  edict  of  Nemours,  after  the 

His  tardy  re-      .  <.  •  r 

plytotheGer-  victory  of   Coutras,  and  that  long  tram  of  events 

miin  princes.       i.i     ti  ,  .        .  .       T  i  rm- 

which  led  to  the  assassinations  in  tlie  castle  or  lilois, 
Henry  of  Navarre  vouchsafed  a  reply  to  the  German  princes. 
It  was  dignified  and  courteous,  betraying  in  every  line,  as  do  so 


256 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.       Ch.  IV. 


luanj  important  state  papers  of  the  period,  the  masterly  hand 
of  Daplessis  Mornay.  While  praising  the  zeal  of  the  princes,  it 
objected  to  the  mode  by  which  they  strove  for  concord.  There 
was  much,  Henry  said,  that  he  approved  iu  the  book  which  they 
had  sent  him ;  much  also,  however,  that  was  obscure  or  could 
have  been  better  expressed.  There  were  many  subtilties  of 
expression  and  bitter  phrases.  He  gave  it  as  his  opinion  that 
more  could  be  hoped  from  a  general  council  than  from  condem- 
nations of  doctrine  emanating  from  princes  and  therefore  rather 
royal  than  theological  in  their  nature.  Meantime  his  own  delav 
in  subscribing  the  "  Formula  Concordiae "  would  not  surprise 
anyone,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  such  a  devoted  adherent  of  the 
Augsbu]-g  Confession  as  the  King  of  Denmark  had  absolutely 
refused  to  affix  his  name  to  it ;  while  it  was  known  that  of  the 
theologians  who  had  originally  endorsed  it  some  would  now  act 
quite  differently  were  they  called  on  to  do  so  again.  This,  and 
a  few  sentences  contrasting  the  asperity  with  which  man}"  of 
the  Lutheran  theologians  attacked  the  "  churches  under  the 
cross  "  with  the  kindliness  and  charity  with  which  the  French 
uniformly  spoke  of  their  German  brethren,  constituted  the 
substance  of  the  reply.' 

Among  the  numerous  documents  connected  with  the  nego- 
tiations just  described  there  is  one  that  deserves  more  than  a 
passing  notice,  because  of  its  bearing  upon  the  remarkable  man 
around  whom  cluster  the  most  interesting  events  of  the  re- 
mainder of  the  sixteenth  century.  At  a  moment  when  Henry 
of  Xavarre  is  shortly  to  be  called  to  enter  the  lists  almost 
single-handed  against  the  collected  forces  of  Roman  Catholic 
France,  I  make  no  excuse  for  pausing  in  the  narrative  of 
events  to  transfer  to  these  pages  the  most  essential  particulars 


'  Letter  of  Henry  of  Navarre  to  the  German  princes,  Feb.  15,  1589.  Let- 
tres  missives,  ii.  437-443.  G.  von  Polenz  has  given  (Geschichte  des  fran- 
zosischeu  Calvinismus,  iv.  856-429)  a  long  and  exhaustive  account  of  the  at- 
tempt of  the  King  of  Navarre  to  secure  union  by  the  promotion  of  a  Protestant 
counter-league.  Compare  the  account  in  De  Thou,  vi.  (liv.  79)  353-363.  It 
may  be  noticed  that  in  the  interval  between  the  letter  of  the  German  princes 
and  Navarre's  reply  the  Elector  August  of  Saxony  had  died  and  had  been  suc- 
ceeded by  his  sou  Christian,  who  was  favorably  disposed  to  the  Reformed. 


1583. 


PROTESTANT  FEDERATION. 


257 


of  a  contemporary  statement,  drawn  up  for  the  purpose  of  en- 
lightening Queen  Elizabeth  respecting  the  power  and  mate- 
rial resources  of  the  prince  who  sought  intimate  alliance  with 
her.  Such  being  the  avowed  object  of  the  writer,  it  will  not 
surprise  the  reader  that  the  account  gives  the  most  favorable 
view  of  the  situation.  In  most  points,  however,  it  may  be  un- 
reservedly accepted  as  accurate. 

The  King  of  Navarre,  says  this  writer,  stands  in  high  reputa- 
tion as  the  probable  successor  both  of  the  King  of  France  and 
of  his  brother,  the  Diike  of  Anion,  because  the  one 

The    posses-  tmi 

siona  and  re-  has  becu  SO  ioug  mamed  without  having  children 

sources  of  the  ,         .  .  ^  -Jr 

King  of  Na-  aiid  the  other  is  not  yet  married,  ihe  1  rotestauts, 
of  whom  he  is  the  acknowledged  head,  have  used 
the  peace  with  so  much  moderation  that  they  have  caused  the 
people  to  forget,  to  some  extent,  the  wounds  inflicted  by  war. 
Moreover,  the  nation  has  suffered  so  much,  during  the  preva- 
lence of  the  peace,  either  from  the  new  taxes  imposed  by  the 
king,  or  from  the  devouring  of  its  means  by  the  troops  of  his 
highness  the  duke,  that  the  two  brothers  have  succeeded  to 
the  hatred  previously  entertained  against  the  Huguenots,  and 
the  King  of  K^avarre  has,  after  a  fashion,  inherited  the  kindly 
feeling  in  which  they  were  held,  inasmuch  as  there  is  found 
reason  to  complain  of  everybody  save  him.  His  popularity 
would  increase  still  further  could  he  draw  near  to  the  centre 
of  the  kingdom.  On  tlie  contrary,  the  popularity  of  the  Guises 
is  waning.  As  evidence  of  this,  it  may  be  noted,  they  recently 
came  to  Paris  well  accompanied  and  in  the  midst  of  their 
friends,  but  never  did  they  venture  to  speak  a  single  earnest 
word  in  behalf  of  the  reformation  of  the  government.  And 
yet  this  was  the  very  time  when  iniquitous  and  burdensome 
edicts  were  issued,  and  when  the  authority  of  the  parliaments 
was  infringed.  .Yet  the  Guises  bowed  before  Epernon  and 
Joyeuse  as  reeds  bow  before  a  water-spaniel.  They  have  put 
up  with  a  thousand  insults,  in  order  to  gain  some  vile  advan- 
tage. They  have  begged  for  favor,  basely  accommodating 
themselves  to  all  vices,  to  all  enormities,  to  every  kind  of  freak ; 
acquiescing  especially  of  late  in  that  confraternity  which  the 
parliaments,  the  Sorbonne,  the  university,  the  convents,  the 
Vol.  I.— 17 


25S 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.       Cu.  IV. 


preachers,  all  in  general  condemned  and  loudly  and  clearly  de- 
nounced. Such  conduct  has  shown  everybody  that  theirs  is 
only  a  mask  of  excellence,  that  they  seek  only  to  profit  by  the 
public  calamities,  and  that,  were  they  to  be  raised  up  to  au- 
thority, the  inn  would  indeed  have  changed  its  sign,  but  only 
to  offer  men  still  poorer  wine  to  drink. 

The  King  of  Navarre's  possessions  are  extensive.  He  holds 
in  sovereignty  a  part  of  the  old  kingdom  which  gives  him 
liis  title — Lower  ^Navarre,  in  which  lie  all  the  passages  lead- 
ing from  France  into  Spain,  and  Beam,  a  district  about  two 
days'  journey  squai'e,  with  such  towns  as  Oleron,  Fau,  Lescars, 
Orthez,  and  Navarreins — tei'ritories  that  together  can  furnish 
three  hundred  horse  and  six  thousand  arquebusiers.'  Besides 
these  provinces,  which  he  holds  in  his  own  right,  he  does  hom- 
a2;e  to  the  Ivine;  of  France  for  the  f ollowiiia;  fiefs :  The  Countv 
of  Foix,  stretching  from  the  territory  of  Toulouse  to  the  Span- 
ish border,  including  the  towns  of  Pamiers,  Foix,  Mazeres, 
Saverdun,  and  Mas  d'Azil,  containing  a  population  mostly  Prot- 
estant, and  capable  of  furnishing  a  body  of  six  thousand  arque- 
busiers.  For  this  fief  he  is  boxmd  to  the  king  only  in  the  sim- 
ple acknowledgment  made  by  kissing  the  hand,  and  himself 
possesses  every  right  of  sovereignty  covered  by  the  term  "  re- 
gale." In  like  manner  he  holds  of  the  king  the  County  of 
Bigorre,  with  Tarbes  for  its  capital,  a  large  city  but  greatly  in- 
jured in  the  course  of  the  civil  wars ;  the  Viscounty  of  Marsan, 
with  Mont  de  Marsan,  Roquefort,  and  Yilleneuve ;  the  Duchy 
of  Albret,  reaching  from  Bayonne  to  Bordeaux  and  even  be- 
yond the  Garonne  and  Dordogne,  wherein  are  situated  Albret, 
'Tartas,  Casteljaloux,  Nerac,  and  other  places  of  note;  the 
Comity  of  Armagnac  (upper  and  lower),  with  sixteen  hundred 
noble  fiefs  holding  of  it,  and  the  archiepiscopal  city  of  Auch, 
the  episcopal  cities  of  Condom  and  Lectoure,  and  the  towns  of 


'  It  is  cliaracteristic  of  the  Huguenot  writer  that,  in  the  midst  of  this  cata- 
logue of  possessions  and  warlike  resources,  he  does  not  forget  the  new  univer- 
sity and  its  theological  students:  "En  ce  diet  pays  y  a  une  Universite  en  la 
ville  d'Orthes,  bien  pourveue  de  gens  doctes,  en  laquelle  il  entretient  tous- 
]ours  50  escoliers  en  theologie,  chacung  I'espace  de  dix  ans,  pour  servir  au 
ministere  de  I'Evangile.'' 


:583. 


PROTESTANT  B'EDEBATION. 


259 


L'Isle  en  Jourdain,  Grenade,  etc. ;  the  County  of  Ronergue, 
witli  Rhodez,  Milhan,  and  Vabres  ;  the  County  of  Perigord, 
with  the  important  city  of  Perigueux ;  and  the  Viscounty  of 
Limoges.  In  sum,  with  the  exception  of  a  very  few  cities,  the 
lands  of  the  King  of  Navarre  extend  all  the  way  from  the 
Spanish  frontier  to  the  river  Dordogne,  and  from  the  Bay  of 
Biscay  eastward  to  Languedoc  and  Auvergne.  j^ow,  those  who 
have  read  the  histories  of  France  and  England,  and  especially 
the  chronicles  of  Froissart,  know  what  was  the  might  of  a 
Count  of  Foix,  a  Count  of  Armagnae,  a  Duke  of  Albret,  in 
the  times  of  Edward  the  Third,  a  period  when  these  districts 
were  not  so  rich  and  highly  cultivated  as  they  now  are.  Hence, 
they  can  conjecture  the  resources  at  the  command  of  the  prince 
who  holds  in  his  hands  all  their  single  possessions.  Besides 
this,  all  the  provinces  referred  to  are  subject  to  the  King  of 
Xavarre  in  the  further  capacity  of  governor  and  lieutenant- 
general  for  the  king  in  Guyenne.  In  each  province  there  are 
certain  gentlemen  of  note  who,  either  with  or  without  the  title 
of  governors,  are  charged  with  the  duty  of  watching  over  the 
safety  of  the  most  important  places.  Of  such,  in  the  County 
of  Foix,  are  the  Viscount  of  Paillez  and  the  Seigneur  de  Mios- 
sens,  Grand  Seneschal ;  and  in  Ronergue  the  four  viscounts  of 
Panat,  Monclar,  Bourniquet,  and  Paulin.  In  Limousin,  it  may 
be  mentioned,  is  situated  the  Viscounty  of  Turenne,  with  its 
castle  bearing  the  same  name,  strong  in  situation,  surrounded 
by  six  or  seven  neighboring  cities,  and  by  a  great  number  of 
castles  of  nobles  capable  of  holding  in  subjection  all  Limousin 
and  a  part  of  Auvergne.  In  the  absence  of  Viscount  Turenne, 
Chouppes,  who  defended  Lusignan  after  the  massacre  of  Saint 
Bartholomew's  Day,  commands  as  his  lieutenant.  North  of  the 
Loire  the  King  of  Navarre  has  extensive  possessions ;  for  ex- 
ample, the  Duchies  of  Vendome  and  Beaumont,  the  Comity  of 
Marie,  the  Viscounty  of  Chateauneuf,  and  the  District  of 
Thymerais.  In  these  districts  most  of  the  nobles  persist  in  the 
profession  of  the  Protestant  religion,  although  in  the  late  wars 
they  had  no  place  of  refuge  in  their  vicinity,  and  all  are  de- 
votedly attached  to  the  King  of  Navarre.  Each  fief  has  its 
own  governor  appointed  by  him. 


260 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.       Cn.  IV. 


For  the  general  administration  of  this  wide  domain,  four 
courts — "  chambres  de  comptes  " — have  been  instituted  :  in 
Bearn,  for  the  King  of  Kavarre's  sovereign  possessions  ;  at 
JS'erac,  for  his  lands  held  of  the  French  crown  between  the  Loire 
and  the  Pyrenees ;  at  Yendome,  for  those  between  the  Seine 
and  the  Loire  ;  and  at  Fere  in  Picard}',  for  such  as  lie  in  that 
province  and  for  his  rich  possessions  in  the  Netherlands.  Each 
court  has  its  president  and  counsellors,  and  all  the  courts  re- 
port to  the  privj-  council  of  the  king,  in  which  Grateins  sits  as 
his  chancellor,  Segur  as  superintendent  of  the  rojal  house  and 
finances,  together  with  Guitry,  Duplessis,  and  other  gentlemen 
"  de  robe  courte.''  Besides  which,  the  King  of  Navarre  has  a 
salaried  counsellor  in  each  of  the  three  parliaments  of  Paris, 
Toulouse,  and  Bordeaux,  within  Avhose  jurisdiction  his  posses- 
sions lie. 

Li  addition  to  his  own  estates,  many  noblemen  and  cities 
give  to  the  King  of  Navarre  their  support  as  acknowledged 
head  and  protector  of  the  Protestants  ;  while  other  cities,  be- 
longing to  the  French  crown,  are  so  mixed  up  with  his  patri- 
monial estates  that  they  have  always  held  for  him — such,  for 
instance,  as  Bazas,  Puymirol,  Montsegm*,  and  le  Mas  de  Yerdun. 

The  resources  of  the  Protestants  are  at  his  command. 
These,  in  Lower  Languedoc,  hold  Nismes,  Montpellier,  Aigues- 
mortes,    LTzes,    Lunel.   Aimargues,  Marsillarg-ues, 

The  Protes-  .  ,  '  »       '  »  ' 

tant  cities     Bagnols,    Sommiercs,  and  other   towns.    The  Ce- 

and  regions.  .       -,     .  -i  /-^  r         ■,  • 

vennes,  V  ivarais,  V  elay,  and  Gevaudan  are  theirs. 
Enjoying  again  the  close  friendship  of  Marshal  Montmorency, 
to  whom  their  own  friendship  is  equally  necessary,  the}-  can 
assure  themselves,  with  the  exception  of  two  or  three  places, 
of  all  Languedoc,  the  richest  and  most  important  province  of 
all  France.  These  Protestants  of  Languedoc  can  bring  into 
the  field  six  thousand  arquebusiers,  but  not  more  than  four 
hundred  horse,  because  their  province  is  less  provided  Avith 
nobles  than  the  other  provinces.  M.  de  Chatillon,  a  noble- 
man of  high  hopes,  and  son  of  the  late  Admiral  Coligny,  in 
conjunction  with  his  brother,  D'Andelot,  has  the  conduct  of  the 
affairs  of  the  Huguenots  in  Languedoc. 

In  Provence,  the  Protestant  churches  are  visibl}'  multiply- 


1583. 


PROTESTANT  FEDERATION. 


201 


ing  under  protection  of  the  peace ;  even  in  snch  places  as  Aries 
and  Aix,  with  hostile  prelates  and  parliaments,  or  Marseilles, 
where,  four  years  ago,  there  was  not  an  avowed  Protestant,  but 
now  there  are  more  than  two  hundred  Protestant  families. 
Although  but  one  city — La  Tour  de  Seine — was  conceded  to 
the  Huguenots  in  this  province  by  the  edict  of  1577,  there  are 
several  other  places  devoted  to  the  King  of  Navarre.  Matters 
have  gone  badly  in  Dauphiny,  chiefly  through  the  bad  faith  of 
the  Duke  of  Mayenne ;  yet  the  Protestants  hold  Kyons  and 
Serres,  by  consent  of  the  King  of  France,  and  some  other 
cities  covertly,  while  they  have  to  fall  back  upon,  in  case  of 
need,  the  active  support  of  the  principality  of  Orange,  in  their 
immediate  vicinity.  They  can  furnish  four  hundred  mounted 
gentlemen  who  have  served  in  all  the  past  wars,  and  four  thou- 
sand arquebusiers.  In  short,  one  could  cross  the  entire  breadth 
of  France,  from  the  Pyrenees  to  the  borders  of  Savoy,  and  put 
up  only  in  friendly  places  not  more  than  three  leagues  apart, 
all  of  them  either  belonging  to  the  patrimony  of  the  King  of 
Navarre  or  under  his  protection. 

Going  northward  from  the  duchies  and  counties  which  are 
his  by  inheritance,  we  find  between  the  Garonne  and  Dordogne 
the  district  known  as  "the  two  seas" — "les  deux  mers,"  with 
a  population  almost  wholly  Protestant,  which  has  been  known 
in  four  days  to  raise  a  force  of  four  thousand  arquebusiers — a 
district  wherein  are  situated  Bergerac,  Sainte  Foy,  and  Castil- 
lon,  all  of  them  connnanding  passages  across  the  Dordogne. 
Beyond  this,  again,  are  the  regions  of  Angoumois,  Saintonge, 
Poitou,  and  Aunis,  all  of  which  will  send  out  at  least  five  lum- 
dred  gentlemen  of  the  Protestant  religion  and  six  thousand 
arquebusiers.  Here  it  is  that  the  Prince  of  Conde  couunands, 
with  his  residence  at  Saint  Jean  d'Angely,  and  supported  by 
such  Protestant  nobles  as  the  Count  de  La  Rochefoucault  and 
the  barons  of  Montandre,  Montguion,  and  Montlieu.  North  of 
the  Loire,  the  Huguenot  party  is  less  conspicuous ;  but  there  is 
no  province  of  the  kingdom  where  it  cannot  boast  a  goodly 
number  of  adherents  among  the  nobles  and  high  gentry.  In 
Brittany,  for  example,  Rohan,  Laval,  and  his  brother  Pieux 
are  the  most  prominent  leaders ;  in  Normandy,  young  Count 


262  THE  HUGUENOTS  AXD  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.       Cn.  IV. 


Montgomery  lias  succeeded  to  the  rank  of  his  father,  the  iin- 
fortunate  instrument  of  the  death  of  Henry  the  Second.' 

It  is  impossible  to  conjecture  "svith  any  degree  of  accuracy 
how  long  the  address  of  statesmen,  and  the  known  aversion  of 
the  Talois  king  for  anything  calculated  to  disturb  his' sluggish 
Death  of  the  esLSQ,  uiight  liavc  postpoued  the  fresh  crusade  against 
Dukeof  Anjou.  Hugueuots  incessautly  preached  by  priests  and 
monks  in  almost  every  parish  of  the  laud,  had  not  the  outbreak 
of  hostilities  been  precipitated  by  the  decease  of  one  of  the 
most  worthless  of  Frenchmen.  For  it  was  part  of  the  miser- 
able lot  of  the  Duke  of  Alen9on  and  Anjou  that  he  was  fated, 
after  having  been  the  bane  of  the  land  which  had  a  thousand 
times  been  ashamed  to  confess  having  given  him  birth,  to  do 
more  damage  by  the  end  of  which  he  was  guiltless  than  by  the 
whole  course  of  his  perjured  and  contemptible  existence.  He 
had  never,  indeed,  demonstrated  by  any  labors  performed  the 
appositeness  of  his  baptismal  name  of  Hercules,  but  there  was 
this  much  of  resemblance  between  his  exit  from  the  world  and 
that  of  the  Grecian  hero's  Hebrew  prototype,  that  he  ended  his 
career  by  effectually  pulling  down  upon  him  the  mighty  fabric 
of  the  French  state,  and  by  slaying  more  unfortunates  at  his 
death  than  he  had  slain  in  his  life. 

The  death  of  the  Duke  of  Anjou,  the  king's  brother,  was  the 
life  of  the  League,  and  thus  the  prolific  source  of  countless  dis- 
asters for  France.'' 

The  fatal  termination  of  the  prince's  lingering  illness,  which 
had  for  some  time  been  looked  for,  came  on  Sunday,  the  tenth 
of  June,  1584.  It  was  just  a  month  to  a  day  before  the  pistol 
of  the  assassin,  Balthazar  Gerard,  robbed  the  young  Dutch  re- 
public of  its  founder  and  most  brilliant  and  patriotic  defender. 
In  the  case  of  the  Duke  of  Anjou,  his  contemporaries  ehar- 


'  "  Discours  envoye  a  M.  de  Yalsiugliam,  secretaire  d'estat  d'Angleterre, 
pour  induire  la  royne  Elizabeth  a  embrasser  1"  union  du  roy  de  Navarre  et  des 
princes  protestans  d'AUemaigne,"  May,  1583,  Memoires  de  Dnplessis  Mor- 
nay,  ii.  235-241 ;  with  the  accompanying  "  Estat  du  roy  de  Navarre  et  de 
son  parti  en  France,"  sent  to  Walsingham,  ibid.,  ii.  241-25G. 

-  "  La  mort  du  due  d' Anjou,  frere  du  roy,  est  la  vie  de  la  Ligue."  Eecueil 
des  choses  memorables,  602,  margin. 


1584. 


DEATH  OP  THE  DUKE  OF  ANJOU. 


263 


itably  expressed  themselves  as  doubtful  whether  the  catastrophe 
so  fatal  to  France  was  the  result  of  his  excessive  debauchery  in 
the  Low  Countries,  or  of  regrets  for  the  overthrow  of  his  am- 
bitious designs,  or  of  ordinary  illness,  or  of  some  "  bad  morsel  " 
administered  to  him,  or  of  other  strange  and  execrable  devices, 
such  as  Salcede  had  many  months  before  been  accused  of  having 
attempted  to  practise.' 

Less  than  three  years  had  elapsed  since  the  duke,  then  at  the 
height  of  his  hopes,  flattered  himself  that  he  was  the  most  fort- 
unate of  yoimger  sons.  Accepted  suitor  for  the  hand  of  Queen 
Elizabeth,  and  sovereign-elect  of  a  good  part  of  the  Nether- 
lands, there  seemed  to  be  no  reason  that  the  youngest  Valois 
might  not  equal  in  prosperity,  if  he  did  not  surpass,  any  other 
member  of  a  family  wliich  had  enjoyed  more  than  its  due  share 
of  royalty.  Catharine  de'  Medici  might  henceforth  lay  aside 
as  idle  her  superstitious  fears  based  upon  the  prognostications 
of  Nostradamiis ;  for  had  she  not  seen  all  her  sons  become 
kings  ?  But  the  promise  of  unmixed  happiness  had  proved  a 
phantom  without  reality  or  substance.  The  prospective  bride- 
groom visited  England  and  was  greeted  with  loud  acclamations, 
but  in  due  time  he  returned  to  the  mainland  no  nearer  the  ac- 
complishment of  his  hopes  than  before  he  set  out  on  his  jour- 
ney. The  story  of  the  prince's  experiences  as  Duke  of  Brabant 
was  no  less  unsatisfactory.  The  prudent  Xetlierlanders  had 
taken  good  care  to  I'estrict  the  authority  of  the  sovereign  they 
called  in  by  very  definite  stipulations,  and  Anjou,  though  to 
Brabant  had  been  added  the  County  of  Flanders,  the  Duchy  of  • 
Guelders,  and  the  Lordship  of  Friesland,  found  his  influence 
upon  the  conduct  of  public  affairs,  and  especially  his  control  of 
the  state's  treasury,  far  different  from  what  a  "  son  of  France  " 
and  a  descendant  of  the  autocratic  Francis  the  First  naturally 
claimed  as  his  due.  But  when  the  faithless  child  of  Catharine 
undertook  to  put  into  practice  the  lessons  of  perfidy  lie  had 
learned  from  early  infancy,  he  only  succeeded  in  investing  his 
name  with  a  loathing  not  unmingled  with  contempt  and  ridicule. 
So  far  from  making  himself  master  of  thu  hospitable  city  of 


Recueil  des  clioses  memorables,  ubi  supra. 


264r 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRR       Ch.  IV. 


Antwerp,  with  Bruges,  Dunkirk,  Ghent,  and  other  places  of  im- 
portance, and  placing  them  in  the  hands  of  his  French  followers, 
it  was  but  a  few  hours  after  the  outbreak  of  the  "  French  Fury  " 
before  the  prince  was  a  fugitive  from  the  city  he  had  attempted 
to  betray,  unable  by  his  most  audacious  falsehoods  to  convince 
the  world  that  he  had  acted  otherwise  than  as  the  most  \m- 
trustworthy  and  ungrateful  of  men.'  Some  five  months  later 
(June,  15 S3),  he  left  the  [Netherlands  never  to  return.  At 
Chateau  Thierry,  on  the  banks  of  the  Marne,  fifty  miles  east- 
ward from  the  capital,  he  breathed  his  last.  From  his  bedside 
frequent  bulletins  had  for  weeks  been  sent  out,  giving  an  ac- 
count of  the  slow  but  certain  progress  of  his  disease.  The  King 
of  France,  more  than  half  glad  at  the  prospect  of  being  relieved 
of  a  troublesome  brother,  was  secretly  less  anxious  than  the 
Guises,  who  saw  in  his  death  the  removal  of  the  greatest  im- 
pediment in  the  way  of  enlisting  the  popular  interest  in  the 
revival  of  the  "  Holy  League."  Henry  of  Xavarre,  more  reti- 
cent and  apparently  engrossed  in  his  own  concerns,  watched  from 
afar  the  event  that  would  bring  him  a  step  nearer  to  the  throne 
of  France.  By  a  singular  coincidence,  the  malady  to  which  Anjou 
succumbed  presented  the  same  extraordinary  symptoms  as  were 
seen  in  the  last  illness  of  his  brother,  Charles  the  Xinth.  Great 
quantities  of  blood  in  the  most  corrupt  state  issued  from  every 
outlet  of  his  body,  and  exuded  from  every  pore.  The  strange 
phenomenon  perplexed  physicians  and  baffled  the  medical  sci- 
ence of  the  day.'  To  complete  the  resemblance  in  the  end  of 
the  two  brothers,  Francis  of  Anjou  died  a  single  day  after  the 
tenth  anniversary  of  the  death  of  Charles,  on  the  same  day  of 
the  week,  and  almost  at  the  very  same  hour  and  minute.' 


>  Motley,  Dutcli  Republic,  iii.  561-580. 

-  Duplessis  Mornay  to  the  King  of  Xavarre,  Paris,  May  2,  1584,  Memoires, 
ii.  594.  Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  ii.  423:  *' Le  sang,  comme  il  estoit  advenu  au 
roi  Charles,  lui  jaillissant  par  tous  les  pores." 

^  "  Concessit  fato  die  hujus  mensis  decimo,  eodem  pene  tempore  et  memento 
quo  superioribus  annis  frater  ejus  Carolus ;  eodem  certe  morbo,  nimirum  e 
pulmonis  ulcere."  Busbecq  to  the  emperor,  June  18.  1584,  Epistola  38. 
Busini  to  the  grand  duke,  June  11,  Negociations  avec  la  Toscane,  iv.  511.  De 
Thou,  vi.  (liv.  79)  378.    It  is  worth  while  to  note  that  the  Gregorian  Calendar 


1584. 


DEATH  OF  THE  DUKE  OF  ANJOU. 


265 


"  It  may  be  said  with  trutlx  that  the  death  of  the  Duke  of 
Alen90u  was  the  ruin  of  France."    Thus  wrote  the  Florentine 
Cavriana  four  years  later,  looking  back  upon  the 
suits  of  An-     desolations  of  civil  war  from  the  standpoint  of  the 

jous   ea   .     jjgg^ggjfjg^jQ,;,  of  |;Jjg  Q^jjggg  at  Blois.'      So,  too,  thought 

and  wrote  other  dispassionate  observers,  the  learned  Pasquier 
among  the  number.  Henry  thought  otherwise.  Was  he  not 
well  rid  of  a  restless  brother,  who  had  long  been  disturbing  his 
sluggish  repose  by  erratic  and  ill-considered  enterprises  ?  Were 
not  his  resources  greatly  increased,  now  that  the  inordinately 
great  appanage  conceded  to  the  duke,  eight  years  before,  was 
once  more  reunited  to  the  possessions  of  the  crown  ?  Could 
the  short-sighted  king  imagine  that  the  turbulent  youths  with 
whom  Anjou  had  consorted  would  now  betake  themselves  to 
the  Guises,  and  lend  new  strength  to  a  formidable  party  inimi- 
cal to  the  royal  family  ?  Or,  that  the  material  gain  occasioned 
by  the  absorption  of  Anjou's  territories  would  be  far  more  than 
counterbalanced  by  the  loss  of  a  person  next  in  the  succession, 
whom  fanatical  hatred  of  Protestantism  could  not  denounce  as 
a  heretic,  and  therefore  incapable  of  mounting  the  throne  of 
France  ? " 

The  passions,  as  well  as  the  events,  of  the  age  with  which  we 
are  now  concerned  can  be  understood  only  so  far  as  we  succeed 
in  transporting  ourselves  to  it,  and,  for  the  time,  as- 

The  thought  .       '       .     °  m  i 

of  a  Huguenot  sumiug  its  lucas  as  our  own.    lo  us,  who  are  accus- 

king  repulsive  i        ti  10  -it. 

to  the  Roman  tomed  to  look  ou  tlio  btato  as  entn'ely  distmct  from 
the  Church  ;  who,  in  repudiating  the  claim  of  the  civil 
power  to  inquire  into  the  conscientious  belief  of  the  individual 
man,  have  almost  gone  to  the  extreme  of  denying  its  right  to 


went  into  operation,  so  far  as  France  was  concerned,  in  December,  1582,  the 
tenth  day  of  that  month  being  called  the  twentieth,  and  Christmas  being  cele- 
brated on  the  fifteenth.  De  Thou,  vi.  (liv.  76)  318  ;  Memoires  d'uu  cure  ligueur 
(Jehan  de  la  Fosse),  193  ;  Journal  du  regne  du  roi  Henri  III.,  62.  Charles 
IX.  died  on  Sunday,  May  30,  Old  Style,  or  June  9,  New  Style,  1574. 

'  "Si  puo  dire  con  ragione  die  la  morte  del  duca  di  Alenjon  sia  stato  la 
rovina  di  Francia.''  Cavriana  to  Serguidi,  Blois,  December  31,  1588,  Negocia- 
tions  avec  la  Toscane,  iv.  850. 

-  See  Etienne  Pasquier's  letter  on  the  origin  of  the  League,  CEuvres  (edit. 
Feugere),  ii.  292  ;  De  Thou,  vi.  (liv.  80)  390. 


266  THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.       Cu.  IV. 

strengthen  the  sanctions  of  its  legislation,  and  guarantee  the 
sacredness  of  testimony  by  a  solemn  appeal  to  the  Creator  of 
all  things — to  ns,  I  say,  it  may  seem  almost  incredible  that  the 
notion  of  the  possibility  that  a  heretic  might  one  day  sit  on  the 
throne  of  Clovis  and  Charlemagne  should  be  so  abhorrent  to  the 
sentiments  of  the  masses  of  the  Fi-ench  people  as  to  make  them 
an  easy  prey  to  the  orators  of  the  League.  Yet  it  must  be 
confessed,  by  every  person  who  has  familiarized  himself  with 
the  pamphlet  literature  of  the  last  quarter  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, that  the  apprehension  was  wide-spread,  and,  in  many 
cases,  based  upon  conscientious  convictions.  The  "  Most  Chris- 
tian King  "  a  Huguenot,  a  Protestant,  a  heretic  !  The  idea  was 
preposterous.  "  AVe  have  seen  in  our  own  times  that  the  here- 
tics have,  in  pursuance  of  law,  been  confined  in  prison,  con- 
demned to  death,  ignominiously  dragged  in  a  filthy  tumbrel  to 
the  public  square,  there  to  be  burned  alive,  and,  as  an  indica- 
tion of  horror  for  their  deeds,  reduced  to  ashes  ;  and  you  dare 
to  say  that  a  heretic  is  the  legitimate  heir  to  the  throne — a 
heretic  who,  according  to  law,  ought  to  be  consumed  by  fire  !  Is 
there  any  law  that  calls  a  criminal  from  execution  to  the  sceptre  ? 
And  your  king,  who  is  worse  than  a  heretic  and  a  relapsed 
heretic  to  boot,  alone  of  his  kind  has  this  power !  Though,  as 
a  relapsed  person,  he  has  voluntarily  renounced  his  right  to 
succeed  even  to  his  patrimonial  estates,  and  has  given  himself 
over  to  the  pains  of  execution  !  Yet  you  boast  that  he  is  the 
legitimate  heir ! "  These  were  the  words  of  zealous  Roman 
Catholics  ;  not  phrases  put  in  their  mouths  by  their  leaders,  but 
the  honest  speech  of  their  hearts.' 

The  question,  however,  as  to  the  true  authorship  of  the  League, 
as  it  was  now  about  to  reappear  in  a  new  and  more  formidable 
shape,  is  not  a  simple  one,  nor  is  it  probablv  possible 

The  author-  ^  .  r       ^  •   r  "t  • 

ship  of  the    to  give  a  periectly  satisfactory  answer,    it  is  un- 
doubtedly true  that  the  League  was  not  the  creation 
of  the  Guises  alone,  nor  indeed  the  creation  of  any  other  leaders. 

'  The  speech  is  that  of  the  "  maiiant  "  in  a  famous  pamphlet  entitled  "  Dia- 
logue du  Maheustre  et  du  Manant,"  published  ten  years  after  this  time,  and 
therefore  subsequently  to  the  accession  of  Henry  IV.  Reprinted  in  the  Katis- 
bon  edition  (172G)  of  the  Satyre  Menippc-e,  iii.  379. 


15S4. 


THE  PARISIAN  LEAGUE. 


267 


There  is  ample  ground  for  the  assertion  that,  even  without  them, 
there  would  liave  been  found  other  noblemen  of  prominence 
only  too  willing  to  assume  the  direction  of  the  movement.' 
[Never  could  the  secular  clergy  or  the  monastic  orders  have 
resigned  themselves  without  a  struggle  to  the  loss  of  the  hold  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church  upon  the  State.  If  the  aversion 
of  the  people  for  a  Protestant  piince  as  next  heir  to  the  throne 
of  his  "  Yery  Christian  Majesty  "  had  seemed  likely  to  prove 
too  weak  to  answer  their  purpose,  certainly  the  priests  and 
monks  of  France  would  have  discovered  other  instruments,  per- 
haps nearly  as  serviceable,  to  give  that  aversion  new  strength 
and  direct  its  manifestation.  Yet  the  fact  is  undeniable  that 
the  popular  hatred  of  Protestantism,  fostered  as  it  was  by  the 
seditious  sermons  of  preachers  in  Lent  and  Advent,  and  by  the 
more  private  influence  of  the  clergy  throughout  the  year,  con- 
stituted only  one  of  several  factors  entering  into  the  complicated 
problem.  Besides  the  more  palpable  agency  of  the  princes  of 
the  house  of  Lorraine,  there  are  traces  more  and  more  distinct 
of  the  insidious  influence  both  of  Philip  the  Second  and  of  the 
Jesuits.  All  the  personages  in  the  drama  now  about 

Philip   the  t      -i  r        ^  ■  i  •  i  i 

Second  and    to  be  euactcd  m  h  ranee  had  for  the  motive  winch  they 

the  Jesuits.  ,  i  t    i  •  c    i  -t-» 

gave  out  to  the  world  the  preservation  of  the  Koman 
Catholic  religion  and  the  destruction  of  the  Protestant  faith.  But 
it  would  be  a  serious  mistake  to  suppose  that  this  ostensible  unity 
of  purpose  secured  a  perfect  accord  in  their  sentiments,  or  freed 
them  from  the  jealousies  that  are  wont  to  reign  in  the  breasts 
of  confederates  in  causes  less  abundantly  provided  with  the  in- 
signia of  religion  and  piety.  When  the  King  of  Spain  took  the 
Guises  into  his  pay,  he  took  good  care  that  the  wages  which  he 
agreed  to  give  them  month  by  month,  and  never  pretended  to 
remit  punctually,  should  not  be  large  enough  to  enable  them  to 
crush  their  opponents  and  render  them  too  independent  of  their 


'  M.  de  Lezeau  insists  "que  les  princes  lorrains  n'ont  estc  que  les  accessoires 
de  ce  party,  et  que  sans  iceux  on  u'eust  pas  laisse  de  trouver  d'autres  chefs 
pour  commander,  estant  vine  condition  qui  n'est  toujours  que  trop  affectee  et 
recherchee."  De  la  religion  catliolique  en  France,  MS.  first  published  in  Cim- 
her  et  Danjou,  Archives  curieuses,  xiv.  8G,  89. 


268 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.       Ch.  IV, 


employer.  Fifty  thousand  crowns  every  thirty  days,  and  this 
promised  only  for  six  months,  was  certainly  a  paltrj'^  allowance 
for  the  maintenance  of  an  army  in  the  field.  It  was  suflBcient, 
however,  to  encourage  the  Guises  to  borrow  on  the  right  hand 
and  on  the  left,  and  involve  themselves  in  hopeless  bankruptcy.' 
On  the  other  hand,  the  Guises  had  their  own  plans,  quite  irre- 
spective of  the  interests  of  Philip ;  and  even  the  Jesuits,  for- 
getful of  their  Spanish  origin,  occasionally  preferred  the  ad- 
vancement of  the  Lorraine  princes  to  the  extension  of  the  power 
of  the  Catholic  Iving.^ 

Henry  of  Kavarre  was  now  the  most  conspicuous  person  in 
France,  scarcely  excepting  Henry  of  Vaiois  himself  ;  and  upon 
him  and  his  actions  was  seen  to  depend  in  the  highest 

Henry  of  a  o 

Vaiois  recog-  degfree  the  future  of  the  kingdom.    The  king  was  by 

iiizes  Henry  °  -..  i         -ni  -  t-i 

of  Navarre  as  no  mcans  Unfriendly  to  his  Bourbon  cousin.  For 

his  successor,  , 

once  he  was  clear-sighted.  At  the  death  of  her 
youngest  son,  Catharine  de'  Medici  seems  to  have  devoted  her 
energies  to  secure  an  end  quite  as  chimerical  as  the  fantastic 
design  she  cherished  about  this  time  on  the  crown  of  Portugal. 
She  would  use  the  Guises  and  the  League  to  thwart  the  pre- 
tensions of  Henry  of  ^Navarre.  Indeed,  she  ridiculed  these  pre- 
tensions. A  relationship  so  distant  as  his  with  the  reigning 
monarch  she  regarded  as  about  as  close  as  with  Adam  and  Eve  ; 
beyond  the  sixth  degree  of  remove,  she  said,  there  is  virtually 
no  tie  of  blood.'    But  after  securing;  her  Hugruenot  son-in-law's 


'  We  shall  see  tliat  the  confidential  correspondence  of  the  Tuscan  agents  at 
the  French  court,  a  fresh  and  inestimable  source  of  information,  is  full  of 
references  to  the  straits  to  which  Philip's  parsimony  drove  the  Guises.  The 
duke  will  not  have  peace  on  any  terms,  writes  Cavriana,  February  11,  1588, 
because  so  advised  by  tlie  King  of  Spain,  from  whose  bounty  he  gets  just 
enough  to  keep  him  alive,  but  not  enough  to  satisfy  his  hunger — "dellagrazia 
del  quale  egli  vivotta  piutosto  che  vive,  nou  tirando  di  la  tanto  che  si  possa 
sfamare,"  etc.  In  the  same  letter,  Cavriana  estimates  the  debts  of  the  Duke 
of  Guise  at  more  than  one-third  of  his  entire  property,  and  the  debts  of  his 
cousin,  the  Duke  of  Aumale,  at  more  than  one-half  of  his  property.  He  pre- 
dicts that  one  must  become  a  Catiline,  the  other  a  Cethegus.  Negociations 
avec  la  Toscane,  iv.  750,  753. 

'  See  Michelet,  La  Lieue  et  Henri  IV.,  100,  121. 

^  Lettres  missives,  i.  G74. 


1584. 


THE  PARISIAN  LEAGUE. 


269 


rejection,  she  firmly  intended  to  discard  tlie  instruments  slie 
had  employed,  and  secure  the  coveted  crown  for  the  representa- 
tive of  the  elder  branch  of  the  Lorraine  family,  for  the  duke 
who  had  married  her  daughter,  and  for  her  daughter's  children.' 
Her  son  had  no  sympathy  with  this  plan,  and  saw  its  utter  im- 
practicability. Before  Anjon's  death,  but  when  the  serious 
character  of  his  disease  left  no  room  for  doubt  as  to  the  issue, 
llenry  the  Third,  as  he  stood  one  day  before  the  fire  after  din- 
ner, had  been  heard  by  Mayenne  and  many  other  gentlemen 
of  the  court  to  exclaim :  "  Now  I  recognize  the  King  of  Na- 
varre for  my  sole  and  only  heir.  He  is  a  prince  of  high  birth 
and  good  parts.  My  disposition  has  always  been  to  love  him, 
and  I  know  that  he  loves  me.  He  is  a  little  hasty  in  temper 
and  sharp  ;  but  at  bottom  he  is  a  good  man.  I  am  sure  that 
my  humors  will  please  him,  and  that  we  shall  get  along  well 
together."  To  the  prevut  des  marchands,  Henry  had  ex- 
pressed himself  in  a  similar  way  :  "  I  am  greatly  pleased  with 
the  actions  of  my  cousin  of  Kavarre.  There  are  those  that  are 
trying  to  supplant  him,  but  I  shall  take  good  care  to  prevent 
them  from  succeeding.  I  find  it,  moreover,  a  very  strange 
thing  that  any  dispute  should  arise  as  to  who  is  to  be  my  suc- 
cessor, as  if  that  were  a  question  admitting  of  doubt  or  discus- 
sion." '  A  little  later,  on  hearing  that  old  Cardinal  Bourbon 
said  that  the  King  of  Navarre  was  not  his  nephew  but  a  bastard, 
and,  moreover,  a  heretic,  so  that  the  succession  would  be  his  in 
case  of  Henry's  death,  his  "Very  Christian  Majesty"  contempt- 
uously remarked  that  the  cardinal  was  a  fool.^ 

'  "  J'ay  receu  nouvelles  certaines, "  writes  the  King  of  Navarre  to  the  Prot- 
estant counsellors  of  the  chamber  of  justice  at  L'Isle  en  Jourdain,  July  13, 
1584,  "que  la  royne,  mere  du  roy  mon  seigneur,  avoit  traicte  et  resolu  aveo 
messieurs  de  Guyse  la  revocation  de  I'eedict  de  pacilication,  et  qu'elle  y  avoit 
faict  condescendre  le  diet  seigneur  roy.  ToutefFois  sa  Majeste,  ayant  despuis 
receu  une  declaration  que  j'ay  faicte,  auroit  suspendu  la  dicte  revocquation  et 
estoit  apriis  a  prendre  quelque  aultre  deliberation,"  Lettres  missives,  i.  674. 
Tlie  queen  mother's  action  is  explicable  only  on  the  ground  stated  in  the 
text. 

'  Duplessis  Mornay,  Clervant  and  Cliassincourt  to  the  King  of  Navarre, 
Paris,  April  14,  1584,  Memoires  de  Duplessis  Mornay,  ii.  575,  576. 

'  Busini,  June  25,  1584,  Negociations  avec  la  Toscane,  iv.  515,  516.  Com- 
pare Lestoile,  September,  1584,  ii.  176. 


270 


THE  HUCUEXOTS  AXD  HEXRY  OF  NAVARRE.       Cn.  IV. 


Meanwhile  Henry  of  Xavarre  liimself  received  from  his 
faithful  servants  some  candid  advice.    Dnplessis  Mornay  and 
the  other  envoys  sent  by  their  master  to  ■warn  the  King  of 
France  of  the  plots  against  his  eastern  provinces,  from 

Dnplessis  Mor-  , 

nay  s  sound    the  side  of  Savov  and  Burerundv,'  were  still  in  Paris 

advice  to  the  ,  o         ^  ^ 

King  of  ya-   whcu  tlic  news  of  Anjou's  approaching  death  arrived. 

Too  sincere  friends  to  be  consummate  courtiers,  the 
three  Ilua-ueuots  did  not  confine  themselves  to  congratulating 
the  Bearnais  upon  having  obeyed  the  inspiration  of  God,  and 
having  from  Pan  sent  messengers  to  Paris  to  give  timely  in- 
formation, thus  turning  his  majesty's  heart  toward  him.  They 
embraced  the  occasion  to  remind  him  that  the  eyes  of  all  France, 
and  of  a  good  part  of  Christendom,  would  henceforth  be  upon 
him ;  that  his  court  would  be  the  resort  of  foreign  nations,  and 
especially  of  the  afflicted,  whether  princes  or  peoples.  Until 
now  he  had  been  content  with  the  testimony  of  his  own  con- 
science or  the  care  of  his  private  concerns  ;  he  must  henceforth 
live  for  others.    And  they  added  these  significant  sentences  : 

Pardon  your  faithful  servants,  sire,  one  word  more.  These 
love  affairs  which  are  so  open,  and  to  which  you  give  so  much 
time,  seem  no  longer  to  be  in  season.  It  is  time,  sire,  that  you 
make  love  both  to  all  Christendom  and  particularly  to  France, 
and  that  by  all  your  actions  you  render  yourself  agreeable  in 
her  eyes.  And,  believe  us,  sire,  you  will  not  have  thus  spent 
many  months,  seeing  what  we  read  in  her  coimtenance,  before 
you  will  have  gained  her  good  grace  and  have  secured  the  honor- 
able and  lawful  favors  that  are  within  your  reach,  to  enjoy  them 
at  your  ease  and  contentment,  when  God,  justice,  and  order 
shall  call  you  thereto."  "  This  was  sound  advice  for  a  prince 
before  whose  eyes  a  magnificent  destiny  was  unfolding ;  it  re- 
mained to  be  seen  how  far  he  would  profit  by  it. 

There  was,  in  the  view  of  the  King  of  France,  one  way,  and 
only  one.  whereby  the  Bearnese  could,  at  a  stroke,  defeat  the 
projects  of  his  enemies.  Let  him  renounce  his  Protestantism, 
and  few  would  venture  to  contest  his  right  to  style  himself 

'  See  above,  p.  234. 

^  Duplessis  Mornay,  Clervant  and  Cliassincourt,  Paris,  April  14,  1584, 
Memoires  de  Duplessis  Mornay,  ii.  574-578. 


1584. 


THE  PARISIAN  LEAGUE. 


271 


heir  presumptive  to  the  crown,  even  on  the  ground  of  apostasy 
after  his  forced  conversion  of  Saint  Bartholomew's  Day.  AVith 
Navarre  is  en-  the  inteutiou  of  induciug  him  to  take  this  politic 
]^7re'prot*es-''"  stcp,  tliB  Duko  of  ^pemou,  OHO  of  tlie  kiug's  prin- 
tantism.  cipal  miuions,  took  occasion  to  visit  Henry's  court, 
then  sojourning  at  Pamiers,  in  the  county  of  Foix.  But  the 
duke's  arguments  availed  nothing.'  The  son  of  Jeanne  d'Al- 
bret  had  not  yet  forgotten  his  mother's  instructions,  and  could 
not  at  present  be  persuaded  to  barter  his  convictions  against 
temporary  advantages.  It  was  so  that,  a  year  before,  he  had 
met  the  solicitations  of  his  cousin,  the  young  Archbishop  of 
Eouen,'  when  that  stripling — the  prelate  was  not  yet  twenty- 
one  years  of  age — requested  him  to  change  his  religion  in  order 
to  win  favor  with  the  nobles.  "  Tell  those  who  make  such  pro- 
posals, my  cousin,''  said  he,  "  that  religion — should  they  chance 
His  noble  kuow  wliat  religion  is — is  not  stripped  off  like  a 

reply.  shirt ;  for  it  has  its  home  in  the  heart,  and,  thank 
God,  is  so  deeply  impressed  upon  mine  that  it  is  as  little  in  my 
power  to  rid  myself  of  it  as  it  was  at  the  beginning  to  enter 
upon  it,  this  grace  being  of  God  alone  and  coming  from  no 
other  source.  .  .  .  Believe  me,  cousin,  the  course  of  your  life 
will  teach  you  that  the  only  true  plan  is  to  commit  one's  self  to 
God,  who  guides  all  things,  and  who  never  punishes  anything 
more  severely  than  He  does  the  abuse  of  the  name  of  religion.'"' 
Much  as  the  stout  refusals  of  the  King  of  Navarre  to  change 
his  religion  under  the  pressure  of  political  expediency  com- 
Beportsof  niended  him  to  the  esteem  of  every  upright  and  in- 
com^Jbie  Ob-  telligent  observer,  certain  it  is  that  his  "  obstinacy  " — 
stinacy.  f^j,  g^p}^  -^y^g  styled  by  the  Roman  Catholic  clergy 
— contributed  greatly  to  the  rapid  spread  of  the  League.  Care 
was  taken  to  spread  the  new  proofs  of  Henry's  incorrigible 


'  De  Thou,  vi.  (book  80)  391,  392,  as  modified  by  Duplessis  Mornay's  note. 
'Subsequently  Cardinal  of  Vendome,  and,  after  his  uncle's  death,  Cardinal 
of  Bourbon. 

^  Henry  of  Navarre  to  the  Archbishop  of  Rouen,  March  6,  1583,  Lettres 
missives,  i.  502,  503;  Memoiresde  Duplessis  Mornay,  ii.  230,  231.  The  reader 
needs,  however,  continually  to  remember  that  this  and  similar  letters  really 
emanated  from  the  pen  of  Duplessis  Mornay. 


272  THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.       Cn.  IV. 


heresy  far  and  wide  among  the  people.  Every  Frenchman,  it  was 
said,  must  now  expect  to  see  a  detested  Huguenot  upon  the 
throne.  The  anger  of  heaven,  so  clearly  manifested  in  denying 
to  the  reigning  king  the  long-desired  boon  of  a  son  and  heir,  de- 
spite vows  and  prayers  at  the  shrines  of  Our  Lady  of  Clery,  the 
Virgin  "  pariturffi  "  at  Chartres,  and  elsewhere,  despite  all  popu- 
lar litanies  and  processions  in  every  part  of  the  realm,  is  now 
revealed  even  more  unmistakably  by  this  sure  prospect  of  disas- 
ter. And  lest  this  should  not  suffice  to  move  the  ignorant  peas- 
antry and  the  bigoted  burgesses,  the  story  of  Segur's  mission, 
grossly  exaggerated  and  perverted,  was  circulated  as  proof  posi- 
tive that  nothing  short  of  extermination  was  in  store  for  the 
Hostile  ru-     faithful  Catliolics.    Similar  rumors  of  bloody  inten- 

tions  on  the  part  of  the  adherents  of  the  Reformation 
had  prevailed  almost  from  the  time  of  its  birth.  It  was  re- 
ported more  than  once  in  the  reigns  of  Francis  the  First  and  Hen- 
ry the  Second  that  the  Lutherans  were  deeply  involved  in  con- 
spiracies to  cut  the  throats  of  their  orthodox  neighbors.  The 
massacre  of  Saint  Bartholomew's  Day  had  been  preceded,  if  not 
precipitated,  by  wild  accounts  of  the  approach  of  an  overwhelm- 
ing force  of  cavalry  under  Francis  of  Montmorency,  which  was 
to  avenge  Coligny's  wound  and  destroy  countless  numbers  of  the 
Parisians.  Three  years  later  the  capital  had  been  terrified  by 
another  fiction  of  the  same  sort,  in  which  Henry  of  Damville, 
now  Marshal  Montmorency,  figured  much  as  had  his  elder 
brother  on  the  previous  occasion.'  But  now  the  enemies  of  the 
Huguenots  added  forgery  to  calumny.  A  document  was  fabri- 
cated purporting  to  be  a  solemn  compact  entered  into  by  a 
Protestant  confederacy.  It  was  represented  that  at  Magdeburg 
— others  said  Middleburg  in  Zealand — a  meeting  had  been  held, 

on  the  sixteenth  of  December,  1584,  at  which  there 
Protestant  had  been  present  the  anibassadors  of  the  Queen  of 
confederacy,  j^jjgjg^j^^j^  ^j^g  King  of  K avarre,  the  Protector  of  Scot- 
land, the  Count  Palatine,  Prince  Casimir,  the  Duke  of  Pome- 
rania,  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse,  the  Rliinegrave,  the  Duke  of 
Wiirtemberg,  the  Prince  of  Orange,  and  the  Swiss  Cantons. 

'  The  matter  is  well  put  in  Miclielet,  La  Ligue  et  Heuri  IV.,  71,  72. 


1584. 


THE  PARISIAN  LEAGUE. 


273 


In  the  paper  adopted  there  was  but  one  great  object  distinctly 
stated,  namely,  to  summon  the  King  of  France  to  observe  his 
last  edict  of  pacification  and  require  him  not  only  to  swear  to  it 
publicly,  but  to  pledge  the  faith  of  his  states  and  afiix  his  own 
signature  to  the  solemn  declaration.  In  case  of  his  refusal, 
war  was  to  be  proclaimed  against  him.  It  was  even  stipulated 
how  large  should  be  the  contingent  of  troops  to  be  furnished  to 
the  common  army  by  each  of  the  parties.  Queen  Elizabeth  en- 
gaged to  bring  into  the  field  five  thousand  reiters  and  four 
thousand  Swiss,  in  addition  to  the  twelve  thousand  Englishmen 
who  were  to  make  a  landing  upon  the  French  coast,  l^avarre 
and  Conde  promised  twenty-five  thousand  arquebusiers  and 
fourteen  thousand  horse.  The  rest  of  the  high  contracting 
parties  stood  pledged  for  smaller  numbers,  down  to  the  Rhine- 
grave  and  the  Scotch  Protector,  against  each  of  whom  only  two 
thousand  men  were  put  down.  The  entire  force  of  eighty- 
three  thousand  five  hundred  men  was  to  be  ready  by  the 
fifteenth  of  the  coming  month  of  April,  and  no  truce  or 
peace  was  to  be  concluded  without  the  consent  of  all  the  con- 
federates.' 

The  paper  was  a  clumsy  fabrication,  and  could  easily  be  ex- 
posed. Segur,  represented  in  the  document  as  having  appeared 
as  Navarre's  ambassador,  was  not  in  Germany  at  the  time  re- 
ferred to.  The  Elector  Palatine  and  the  Prince  of  Orange,  both 
A  clumsy  for-  wliom,  forsootli,  engaged,  through  their  plenipo- 
tentiaries,  to  appear  in  the  field  at  the  head  of  their 
troops  in  the  coming  spring,  had  been  in  their  graves,  the  one 
for  more  than  a  year,  the  other  for  five  months.  The  Elector 
Palatine  had  left  only  a  minor  heir,  and  his  dominions  were  in 
the  hands  of  Casimir  as  administrator.  Besides,  there  was  an 
absurd  disproportion  between  the  contingents  allotted  to  the 
several  princes  and  their  well-known  resources ;  not  to  insist 


'  "Protestation  desliguez,  faicte  en  I'assemblee  de  Mildebourg,  au  mois  de 
decembre  dernier  passe,  1585."  Reprinted  in  Cimber  et  Danjou,  Archives 
curieuses,  xi.  1-6.  Among  the  other  stipulations  of  this  paper  is  one  provid- 
ing that  a  demand  be  made  at  the  next  German  diet  for  the  reunion  to  the  em- 
pire of  the  domain  "  detenue  a  faux  de  I'evesque  de  Rome  et  autres. "  See 
Becueil  des  choses  memorables,  GOT,  G08. 
Vol.  I.— 18 


274 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OP  NAVARRE.       Ch.  IV, 


upon  tlie  singular  blunder  of  the  forger  in  choosing  Magdeburg 
for  the  seat  of  the  fictitious  meeting,  and  yet  not  representing 
the  Elector  of  Brandenburg,  within  whose  territories  the  city 
was  situated,  as  having  taken  part  in  the  adoption  of  the  com- 
pact either  in  person  or  by  deputy.  Well  might  the  King  of 
Xavarre  allege  the  fabrication  to  be  an  imposture  worthy  of 
emanating  from  the  bench  of  a  charlatan,  and  point  to  the  cir- 
cumstance that  its  author  set  the  month  of  May  following  for 
the  assembling  of  the  Protestant  confederates  at  Basle  as  being 
a  revelation  of  the  purpose  of  the  managers  of  the  League  to 
resort  to  arms,  ostensibly  for  the  purpose  of  meeting  the  invad- 
ing force,  before  that  date.' 

Whether  true  or  false,  however,  the  stories  circulated  by  the 
League  met  with  abundant  credence  among  the  people,  and  pro- 
duced the  desired  effect. 

Respecting  the  history  of  the  origin  of  the  League  in  the 
capital  we  happen  to  have  a  few  particulars,  though  by  no 
means  all  the  information  that  could  be  desii'ed.  Fragmentary 
The  League  in  is  tlic  account,  it  dcscrvcs  careful  study;  for,  in 
rait'of  a^svs-  midst  of  much  that  is  obscure  or  doubtful,  it 
tematic  pian.  p]aces  bcyoud  dispute  the  fact  that,  instead  of  having 
been  in  its  beginnings  a  spontaneous,  popular  impulse,  as  it  has 
sometimes  been  portrayed,  the  poAverful  movement  with  which 
not  the  Huguenots  alone,  but  the  crown  itself,  was  soon  to  be 
called  into  conflict,  was  the  result  of  a  systematic  and  carefully 
laid  plan,  intelligently  devised  and  patiently  carried  into  opera- 
tion. Such  a  scheme  presupposed,  indeed,  as  indispensable  to  its 
success,  a  very  ignorant  and  bigoted  populace,  intense  in  its  devo- 
tion to  the  name  and  the  forms  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church, 
easily  stirred  to  frenzy  by  plausible,  if  unfounded,  rumors,  and 
already,  as  I  have  said,  much  disturbed  at  the  prospect  of  a 
Huguenot  successor  to  the  throne  of  the  Yery  Christian  King. 


'  Henry  of  Navarre  exhibited  the  inconsistencies  of  the  supposed  "  con- 
cordat," in  the  23d  section  of  his  important  manifesto,  dated  Bergerac,  June 
10,  1585,  entitled  "Declaration  du  roy  de  Navarre  centre  les  calomnies  pub- 
liees  contre  luy  es  protestations  de  ceux  de  la  Ligue,  qui  se  sont  eslevez  en  ce 
royaume."  Reprinted  in  the  Memoires  de  la  Ligue,  i.  133-163,  and  Memoires 
de  Duplessis  Mornay,  iii.  89-126. 


1584. 


THE  PARISIAN  LEAGUE. 


275 


But  it  was  in  itself  no  offspring  of  the  people's  hate  of  heresy, 
and  the  secret  of  its  appearance  at  this  particular  time  must  be 
sought  not  in  the  obscure  homes  of  the  Parisian  rabble,  but  in 
ducal  palaces,  in  ecclesiastical  houses,  and  in  the  Escorial  it- 
self. 

Realizing  the  importance  of  Paris  in  any  such  struggle  as  all 
saw  was  impending  over  France,  the  Guises  are  said  to  have 

chosen  one  Charles  Hotoman  or  Hotman,  known  also 
ot^chrrfes  as  M.  dc  la  Roche-Blond,  to  organize  the  strongly 
""^  '  Roman  Catholic  party  and  bring  all  its  latent  energies 
into  play.  A  man  of  considerable  means  and  great  activity,  a 
burgess  of  the  city  and  boasting  of  a  good  pedigree,  Hotman 
seemed  to  be  just  the  instrument  demanded  by  the  emergency. 
His  mind  had  been  inflamed  by  artful  diatribes  against  the  mis- 
fortune of  the  times,  the  ambition  of  courtiers,  the  corruption  of 
the  judges,  the  dissoluteness  of  all  ranks  of  society,  and  the  utter 
indifEereuce  of  the  king  to  the  religious  welfare  of  his  subjects 
evidenced  by  his  concession  of  the  cities  now  pledged  to  the 
Huguenots.  Liberal  promises  of  personal  advancement  were 
also  added.  At  first  Hotman  called  but  three  persons  into  his 
counsels.  All  three  were  ecclesiastics  :  Jean  Prevost,  curate  of 
Saint  Severin ;  Jean  Boucher,  curate  of  Saint  Benoist ;  and 
Matthieu  de  Launoy,  canon  of  Soissons.  After  mature  con- 
sideration, the  number  of  counsellors  was  increased,  each  one  of 
the  four  naming  one  or  two  persons  more  whose  zeal  and  pru- 
dence were  beyond  question.  Next,  others  were  gradually  and 
caiitiously  admitted  to  a  participation  in  the  scheme — curates,  ad- 
vocates, maitres  de  comptes,  and  the  like.  To  prevent  discovery, 
the  management  of  affairs  was  at  first  confided  to  a  small  council 
of  nine  or  ten  members,  partly  ecclesiastics,  partly  laymen  ;  and 

five  persons  were  intrusted  with  the  duty  of  carrying 

The  coun-  r    t  •  •i-i-  •/» 

cii^ana  the  out  the  dccisious  of  this  council  m  the  sixteen  quarters 
of  the  city  and  the  faubourgs.  Compans  attended  to 
the  whole  of  the  "  Cite  " — the  island  to  which  Paris  was  origi- 
nally confined.  Crucc  was  charged  with  oversight  of  the  two 
quarters  of  the  "  Universite "  — or  the  southern  part  of  the 
town — and  its  faubourgs  of  Saint  Marcel,  Saint  Jacques,  and 
Saint  Germain.  La  Chapelle,  Louchard,  and  Le  Clerc  Bussy  had 


276 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.      Cu.  IV. 


similar  functions  in  all  tlie  quarters  of  the  "  Ville " — as  the 
growing  portion  of  Paris  on  the  northern  bank  of  the  Seine 
was  popularly  designated.  Everything  was  done  with  an  eye 
to  secrecy,  expedition,  and  safety.  2sot  a  living  man  was  ad- 
mitted by  the  five  "  into  the  new  society  until  his  character 
and  previous  history  had  been  thoroughly  canvassed  by  the 
council,  and  his  devotion  to  the  Roman  Catholic  religion,  or, 
as  it  was  more  succinctly  expressed,  his  "  zeal  for  the  mass," 
had  been  f  ullv  established.  Bv  the  same  "  five "  evervthing: 
that  occurred  in  any  part  of  the  capital  was  daily  reported  to 
the  council,  and  the  decisions  of  the  council  were  in  turn  com- 
municated to  all  the  faithful.  The  latter,  for  the  most  part, 
obeyed  implicitly  without  seeking  to  discover  the  source  whence 
the  command  emanated.  From  the  obscure  room  of  curate 
Boucher,  first  in  the  college  of  the  Sorbonne,  and  afterward  in 
the  college  de  Forteret,''  true  cradle  of  the  League,  issued 
mandates  which  even  the  king  upon  his  throne  soon  learned  to 
fear.  So  well  was  the  affair  managed  that  neither  Henry  nor 
his  agents  were  able  for  a  long  time  to  obtain  any  trustworthy 
information  respecting  the  secret  organization,  and  could  only 
conjecture  the  source  of  the  marvellous  power  that  thwarted 
their  chosen  designs.  Among  the  members,  carefully  selected 
and  trained  to  submit  to  arbitrary  rule,  a  spirit  of  self-sacrifice 
supplied  the  place  of  military  discipline,  while  even  the  money 
necessary  for  carrying  on  the  League's  operations  Avas  con- 
tributed by  the  wealthy  families  that  privately  countenanced 
the  movement,  until  such  time  as  the  treasures  of  the  Indies, 
supposed  to  repose  in  the  coffers  or  to  be  subject  to  the  drafts 
of  the  Catholic  King,  should  be  directed  toward  France.  It 
would  be  anticipating  too  much  the  history  of  succeeding  years, 
were  I  to  record,  in  this  place,  the  part  taken  by  the  Parisian 
League,  especially  the  later  "  Council  of  the  Sixteen,"  in  the 
subsequent  wars  under  Henry  the  Third  and  Henry  the  Fourth, 
J  For  the  present  let  it  suffice  to  notice  that  the  example  of  Paris 
was  gradually  imitated  in  the  great  provincial  towns,  and  that 
an  engine,  originally  contrived,  it  is  said,  for  local  purposes  and 
for  defensive  operations,  was  found  so  well  adapted  to  aggres- 
sive warfare  that,  in  the  end,  the  fortunes  of  the  great  nobles 


Cn.  IV. 


THE  HUGUENOT  WORSHIP. 


277 


at  whose  instigation  it  had  been  constructed,  indeed,  the  destinies 
of  France  itself,  were  dependent,  to  no  inconsiderable  extent, 
upon  it.' 


The  usages  of  a  people  are  often  depicted  most  vividly  by  those  to  whom, 
hy  reason  of  novelty  and  contrast  with  their  own  customs,  they  appear  strange 
or  absurd.  The  unfriendly  pen  of  Florimond  de  Raemond, 
Kieraondrs  ac-  author  of  a  virulent  "  History  of  the  Origin,  Progress,  and  Ruin 
count  of  the  of  the  Heresies  of  our  Times,"  has  drawn  a  sketch  of  the  mode  of 
Huguenot  wor-        ,       .       , .   .  ,  .      ,    ^  •  ,  tt 

ship.  conducting  divme  worslnp  that  was  in  vogue  among  the  Huguen- 

ots (Latin  edition,  Cologne,  1G14,  ii.  589-626)  ;  and  information 
derived  from  other  and  less  inimical  sources  may  enable  us  to  fill  in  some  of 
tlie  details  that  have  been  omitted. 

Rude  barns  had  been  among  the  earliest  resorts  of  the  persecuted  Protes- 
tants, and  it  was  a  common  reproach  brought  against  their  successors  that 
they  continued  of  choice  to  meet  in  barns,  even  after  the  necessity  of  con- 
sulting safety  had  passed  away.  The  case  was  not,  however,  very  different 
from  that  of  the  early  Christians  of  Rome,  for  whom  the  dark  recesses  of 
the  catacombs  long  possessed  a  singular  fascination.  Unlike  the  old  parish 
churches,  the  Protestant  places  of  worship  were  provided  with  benches, 
against  which  apparently  no  objection  could  be  urged,  save  that  they  bore 
too  close  a  resemblance  to  the  forms  of  the  schools.  This  was  not  the  only 
particular  wherein  the  Huguenots  studied  the  comfort  of  the  people,  or  set 
themselves  against  traditional  practice.  They  went  to  the  length  of  declining 
to  kneel  down  in  prayer  on  entering  the  hallowed  precincts,  and  based  the 
refusal  upon  a  determination  to  avoid  everytliing  that  savored  of  idolatry. 

While  the  minister  is  expected,  or  while  he  is  preparing  for  his  sermon, 
says  Rffimond,  a  plain  man  will  come  forward  and,  from  the  pulpit,  read 
a  chapter  of  the  Holy  Scriptures.  If  the  minister  be  for  any  reason  pre- 
vented from  coming,  the  same  person  may,  indeed,  go  on  and  read  to  the 
assembled  hearers  a  sermon  written  by  John  Calvin  himself.  At  least,  this 
was  frequently  done  until  a  sj-nod  put  an  end  to  the  practice,  for  fear,  as 
it  said,  lest  Calvin's  writings  should  seem  to  be  substituted  for  the  Word 
of  God.  The  Roman  Catholic  writer,  however,  suggests,  as  the  true  reason, 
that  the  Protestant  divines  apprehended  a  diminution  of  the  willingness  of 
the  laity  to  submit  to  the  superfluous  expense  of  supporting  living  teachers, 


'  The  story  of  the  institution  of  the  League  in  Paris  is  told  appreciatively 
by  the  "manant"  in  tlie  famous  "  Dialogue  du  malieustre  et  du  manant  " 
(reprinted  in  full  in  the  appendix  to  the  Ratisbon  edition  of  the  Satyre  menip- 
pe'e,  iii.  434,  etc.,  and  in  part  in  Cimber  et  Danjou,  Archives  curieuses,  xiv. 
30-39).  It  is  told,  for  the  most  part  in  the  same  words,  but  from  a  royalist 
point  of  view,  in  the  Memoires  de  la  Ligue,  v.  G41,  etc.  See  Recueil  des 
choses  memorables,  603,  etc. 


278 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.      Ch.  IV. 


■when  the  works  of  the  dead  could  he  turned  to  sucli  good  account.  But  if 
Florimond  de  Raemond  is  shocked  that  a  simple  artisan  he  permitted,  though 
merely  a  deacon  or  reader,  to  take  so  important  a  place,  he  is  even  more  sur- 
prised at  the  occasional  disregard  of  conventional  usages  hy  the  minister  liim- 
self,  who  next  enters.  Instead  of  the  rich  vestments  of  the  priest,  the 
Huguenot  pastor  is  clothed  in  simple  dress,  differing  little  from  that  of  every- 
day life.  It  may  even  he  that,  like  M.  de  Fay,  the  chaplain  of  Henry  the 
Fourth's  sister,  he  will  (in  time  of  war),  conduct  the  services  wearing  his 
sword,  or  possibly,  like  some  others,  with  spurs  and  greaves  on. 

Even  the  most  ornate  "  temples"  of  the  Calvinists  strike  our  Roman  Catho- 
lic visitor  as  hare  and  unattractive.  Moreover,  he  charges  the  Reformers  with 
having  turned  into  "  a  house  of  preaching  "  what  Christ  himself  declared  to  he 
"  a  house  of  prayer." 

On  ascending  the  pulpit,  the  minister,  having  removed  his  hat,  begins  the 
service,  if  it  be  a  Lord's  day,  hy  the  repetition  of  the  Confession  of  Sins : 
"  Seigneur  Dieu,  Fere  eternal  et  tout  puissant."  On  other  days,  he  uses  no 
set  form,  but  composes  his  prayer  according  to  his  pleasure.  Tlie  worshippers 
either  stand  or  kneel,  and  man}-  turn  their  backs  to  the  minister.  After  a 
very  brief  prayer  (which  the  Roman  Catholic  contrasts  with  the  prayer  with- 
out ceasing  enjoined  by  St.  Paul),  a  section  of  some  one  of  the  psalms,  trans- 
lated by  Marot  and  Beza  into  the  vernacular,  is  sung.  Under  the  guidance  of 
a  leader,  all  join  in  this  part  of  worship — men  and  women,  old  and  young.  In 
those  vast  assemblages  that  used  to  come  together  in  the  city  of  Paris,  when 
all  France  seemed,  as  with  one  impulse,  to  be  madly  following  the  new 
teachers  of  religion,  it  sometimes  happened  that  the  most  strenuous  exertions 
of  the  minister  or  leader  could  not  keep  so  many  voices  in  harmony,  and  that 
in  one  part  of  the  edifice  the  people  were  singing  one  verse,  in  another  a  dif- 
ferent one.  But,  if  there  be  only  a  few  gathered,  the  clear,  sweet  voices  of 
the  girls  are  heard  entrancing  all  that  listen.  "  It  may  easily  be  conjectured," 
cynically  remarks  Rsemond,  "whether  the  girls  have  their  heart  more  fixed 
upon  God  than  the  young  men  have  both  heart  and  eyes  fixed  upon  the  girls." 
And  then,  this  is  all  done  in  spite  of  St.  Paul's  words  :  "  Let  j-our  women  keep 
silence  in  the  churches  "  ! 

Next,  the  minister  in  a  few  words  invokes  the  aid  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and 
reads  from  the  Holy  Scriptures,  which  he  always  has  at  his  hand,  a  text 
which  he  then  proceeds  to  expound.  The  sermon  is  followed  by  a  short 
prayer,  this  by  the  singing  of  the  psalms,  and  then  all  retire  from  the  church. 
Of  the  external  manifestations  of  devotion  upon  which  the  Roman  Catholics 
lay  great  stress  there  are  none.  No  hands  are  stretched  out  toward  heaven. 
Smiting  upon  the  breast  passes  for  pure  idolatry.  Nor  is  it  only  on  Sunday 
that  preaching  is  practised.  On  Thursday,  too,  the  Huguenots  flock  to  their 
places  of  worship  with  as  great  alacrity  as  on  the  Lord's  Day,  upon  the  latter 
of  which  days  they  not  unfrequently  fast. 

The  same  simplicity,  we  are  assured,  characterizes  other  occasions  of  wor- 
ship. In  camp,  when  the  soldiers  are  about  to  be  assigned  to  their  quarters 
for  the  night,  a  deacon  standing  before  them  utters  a  brief  prayer.  When 
the  rite  of  Baptism  is  administered,  which  is  always  in  church  and  at  the 
principal  service  of  the  Lord's  Day,  the  ceremony  consists  of  an  address,  a 


Cii.  IV. 


THE  HUGUENOT  WORSHIP. 


279 


prayer  or  admonition,  and  the  sprinkling  of  a  little  water,  with  the  use  of  the 
words,  "  I  baptize  thee,"  etc.  Great  latitude  is  allowed  in  the  matter  of  god- 
fathers and  godmothers,  even  the  parents  themselves  being  permitted  to 
present  their  children  at  the  font. 

The  administration  of  the  Lord's  Supper  is  even  more  noteworthy  for  its 
contrast  with  the  pompous  ceremonial  of  the  Romish  Mass.  It  takes  place 
only  four  times  a  year.  That  is  at  Easter,  at  Pentecost,  on  the  first  Lord's  Day 
in  September,  and  on  the  Lord's  Day  nearest  to  Christmas.  (See  the  notice  at 
the  end  of  the  various  editions  of  the  Huguenot  psalter. )  It  was,  however, 
the  opinion  of  Calvin  and  Farel  that  the  Lord's  Supper  ought  to  be  celebrated 
far  more  frequently — if  possible,  on  every  Lord's  Day.  "II  seroyt  bien  a 
desirer  que  la  communication  de  la  Saincte  Cene  de  Jesucrist  fust  tons  les 
dimenches  pour  le  moins  en  usage  quant  I'esglise  est  assemblee  en  mul- 
titude, veu  la  grand  consolation  que  les  fideles  en  recoipvent,  etc. 
Mays  pource  que  I'infirmite  du  peuple  est  encore  telle  qii'il  y  auroit  dangler 
que  ce  sacre  et  tant  excellent  mistere  ne  vint  en  mespris  s'il  estoyt  si  souvent 
celebrc,  ayant  esgard  ;l  cela,  il  nous  a  semble  bon  que  en  attendant  que  le 
peuple  qui  est  encores  au  cunement  debile  sera  plus  conferme,  ceste  saincte 
Cene  so3't  visitee  une  foys  chascung  moys  en  I'ung  des  troys  lieux  ou  se  font 
maintenant  les  predications,"  etc.  Memoire  de  Calvin  et  Farel  sur  I'organisa- 
tion  de  I'Eglise  de  Geneve,  16  janvier,  1537,  in  Archives  of  Geneva,  and  printed 
in  Gaberel,  i.,  pieces  justificatives,  103,  104.  The  bread  used  is  leavened. 
There  is  no  altar,  but  instead  a  simple  table  spread  with  a  cloth.  The  min- 
ister comes  down  from  the  pulpit  and  breaks  the  bread,  using,  for  the  most 
part,  these  words  from  Calvin's  liturgy,  "The  bread  which  we  break  is  the 
communion  of  the  body  of  Christ."  He  then  gives  a  piece  of  the  bread  to  the 
member  of  the  consistory  who  stands  nearest  to  him,  saying,  "  Remember  that 
Christ  endured  death  and  passion  for  thee,"  or,  "This  is  the  body  that  suf- 
fered for  thee."  The  communicants  successively  come  up,  and  to  each  the 
minister,  as  he  gives  him  a  piece  of  the  bread,  repeats  a  different  verse  from 
the  Word  of  God.  The  communicant,  says  Raemond,  kisses  the  hand  of  the 
minister  in  token  of  honor,  or,  if  the  communicant  be  more  honorable,  the 
minister  kisses,  or  makes  as  if  he  would  kiss  the  bread  he  gives.  At  the  other 
end  of  the  table  a  deacon  hands  the  cup — no  jewelled  chalice,  but  a  plain 
vessel,  even,  it  may  be,  of  glass — to  each  communicant,  with  the  words, 
"  The  cup  of  blessing  which  we  bless  is  the  communion  of  the  blood  of 
Christ,"  or,  "  Remember  that  the  blood  of  Christ  was  shed  for  thee."  In  some 
places  the  civil  magistrates,  according  to  Rsemond,  approach  the  table  even 
before  the  consistory.  Each  communicant,  on  retiring,  places  a  piece  of 
money  on  a  plate  or  upon  the  table,  for  the  relief  of  the  poor.  The  "  ciena 
peripatetica,"  as  the  writer  is  jjleased  to  style  it,  of  the  Huguenots  is  strik- 
ingly different,  not  only  from  the  mode  of  communing  practised  in  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church,  but  from  the  customs  observed  in  the  Reformed 
churches  of  other  countries.  In  some  of  these  the  communicants  kneel  in 
their  places,  while  the  consecrated  elements  are  brought  to  them  by  the  min- 
ister and  deacons,  while  in  others,  as  in  those  of  Scotland,  Belgium,  and  Hol- 
land, the  communicants  observe  the  primitive  usage  of  sitting  down  at  the 
table. 


280  THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.      Ch.  IV. 


Nothing  impressed  itself  upon  the  adherents  of  the  Romish  Church  as  so 
remarkable  as  the  great  use  of  the  psalms.  The  early  Huguenots,  we  are  told, 
carried  their  Bibles  and  psalm-books  even  to  their  meals,  and  brought  them 
cut  at  the  end,  as  a  sort  of  dessert,  wherein  persons  of  both  sexes  and  every 
age  vied  in  partaking.  They  chaunted  them  on  the  way  to  their  places  of 
worship.  It  was  a  pleasant  sight  to  see  ten  or  a  dozen  boats  full  of  Huguenot 
men,  women,  and  children  gliding  over  the  peaceful  waters  of  some  river 
toward  the  spot  where  the  great  assembly  of  worshippers  was  to  meet,  and  fill- 
ing the  banks  on  either  side  with  the  melody  of  their  song.  Artisans  made 
their  work-rooms,  merchants  their  shops,  to  resound  with  the  music  of  their 
favorite  hymns  ;  nor  were  they  deterred  by  the  fact  that  priests  and  monks 
held  up  their  hands  in  holy  horror  at  the  profanation  of  transferring  the 
psalms  of  David  from  the  church  to  the  private  house,  or  stopped  their  ears 
when  they  passed  by  the  cobbler  at  his  bench  singing  the  divine  Miserere,  or 
caught  the  strains  of  the  De  profundia  rising  above  the  din  of  the  smithy. 


1584. 


THE  HOLY  LEAGUE. 


281 


CHAPTER  V, 


THE  "HOLY  LEAGUE,"  AND  THE  EDICT  OF  NEMOUKS. 

If  any  conflict  be  more  pitiful  than  a  war  sincerely  waged 
for  religion's  sake,  it  is  a  conflict  in  which  religion  serves  merely 
as  a  convenient  pretext  to  cloak  private  and  selfish  ends.  Of 
such  a  conflict  the  Huguenots  were  about  to  become  the  un- 
willing witnesses,  without  the  ability,  by  taking  an  active  part, 
to  secure  the  triumph  of  the  side  upon  which  their  interest  lay. 

Both  Henry  the  Third  and  the  Guises  were  by  profession 
devout  Roman  Catholics.  Between  the  two,  if  there  were  any 
The  king's  qucstiou  of  relative  sincerity,  Henry  was  entitled  to 
orthe'iiugue-  regarded  as  the  more  sincere.  The  Guises  might 
note.  choose  to  dissemblc.     They  had  on  occasion  pre- 

tended to  have  leanings  toward  the  Reformation.  Even  the 
bloody  Cardinal  of  Lorraine  had  more  than  once  made  his  or- 
thodoxy suspicious  in  the  eyes  of  rigid  churchmen.  But  Henry 
of  Yalois,  brought  up  to  hate  the  Protestants  with  a  perfect 
hatred,  never  feigned  the  slightest  affection  for  them,  even 
when  most  desirous  of  entrapping  them  in  a  false  security.  On 
the  other  hand,  at  a  time  when  his  heart  might  have  been  ex- 
pected to  be  touched  with  gratitude  for  their  signal  fidelity  to 
the  crown,  the  king's  assurances  went  no  further  than  vague 
promises  of  peace  and  good  treatment.'  Meanwhile  he  gave 
the  most  practical  proof  of  hearty  detestation  for  the  Hugue- 
nots and  their  faith.  He  rigidly  excluded  the  adherents  of  the 
Reformed  doctrines  from  all  posts  of  trust,  from  all  civil  and 
military  ofllces,  from  all  judicial  seats.    The  monarch  set  his 


'  "  Je  leur  entretiendrai  la  paix,  et  leur  monstrerai  que  je  leur  veuls  dii 
bien."  Duplessis  Mornay  to  the  King  of  Navarre,  Paris,  February  20,  1584, 
Memoires  de  Duplessis  Mornay,  ii.  528. 


282 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.        Ch.  V. 


face  resolutely  against  their  preferment.  Ambitious  men  among 
the  Huguenots  were  privately  informed  by  Henry's  minions, 
His  plan  for  JovGuse  and  Epernon,  that  religious  constancy  was 
of  ptot^tent"  ^^^^  obstacle  in  the  way  of  their  obtaining  the 
ism.  coveted  prize.     To  such  inducements  to  apostasy 

many  an  aspirant  for  power  fell  an  eas}'  prey.  At  the  same 
time,  if  in  any  city  of  the  kingdom  a  Protestant  happened  to 
have  secured  some  magistracy,  there  were  not  wanting  persons 
ready  to  avail  themselves  of  the  slightest  pretext  of  irregularity 
in  his  appointment,  or  of  error  committed  by  him  in  an  official 
capacity.  It  went  hard  with  his  enemies,  enjoying,  as  they  did, 
the  all  but  open  support  of  the  king  and  his  advisers,  if  they  did 
not  involve  the  Huguenot  in  costly  litigation  or  even  secure  his 
removal.'  So  shrewdly  devised,  so  systematically  pursued,  was 
the  scheme  of  repression,  that  worldly  wise  men,  politicians  judg- 
ing of  others  by  themselves,  and  statisticians  who  had  implicit 
faith  in  their  arithmetical  processes  and  were  confident  that  the 
fate  of  the  Protestants  could  be  safely  calculated  according  to 
the  rule  of  simple  proportion,  predicted  the  speedy  extinction  of 
heresy  in  France.  But  for  the  interference  of  this  meddlesome 
League,  "  Huguenotry,"  Cavriana  positively  afllrms,  would,  in 
the  course  of  four  years,  have  become  so  obsolete  as  to  leave  no 
memory  of  itself,  so  complete  would  have  been  the  effect  of  the 
determination  of  Henry  the  Third  to  tolerate  no  Huguenot  near 
him  or  in  any  public  oflBce." 

'  De  TLou,  vi.  (book  81)  444,  445. 

-  Letter  of  Filippo  Cavriana,  August  4,  loSo,  Negoeiations  avec  la  Toscane, 
iv.  619.  The  Venetian  ambassador,  Lorenzo  Priuli,  in  his  relation  of  Juno  5, 
1582,  maintained  that  the  number  of  Huguenots  in  France  had  already  dimin- 
ished seventy  per  cent.  Ranke,  History  of  the  Popes,  bk.  v.,  p.  204.  The 
absurdity  of  such  affirmations  and  prognostications  lay  in  the  fact  that  they 
made  no  account  of  the  people.  Instead  of  diminishing,  the  number  of  Prot- 
estants in  France  was  steadily  and  even  rapidly  increasing  at  the  very  period 
of  the  civil  wars,  when  political  wiseacres,  judging  from  the  occasional  defec- 
tion of  courtiers  and  men  ambitious  of  place,  were  foretelling  the  annihilation 
of  the  Huguenot  party.  For  instance,  so  soon  as  the  peace  of  1577  was  signed, 
the  Reformed  religion  received  a  notable  impulse  in  the  city  of  Pons  in  Sain- 
tonge,  now  that  protection  was  secured  by  a  Protestant  garrison.  The  church,  or 
"  temple,"  erected  in  1575,  became  too  contracted  for  the  multitude  of  Prot- 
estants flocking  to  it.    As  it  was  impracticable  to  erect  a  now  church,  the 


1584. 


THE  HOLY  LEAGUE. 


283 


Were  the  Guises  desirous  of  such  a  consummation  ?  The 
question  may  confidently  be  answered  in  the  negative.  The  res- 
toration of  doctrinal  unity  to  France  would  have  removed  the 
chief  excuse  of  which  an  ambitious  family  could  avail  itself  for 
taking  up  arms  against  the  sovereign — an  excuse  which  it  would 
have  been  loath  to  renounce. 

For  many  years  the  mind  of  Henry  of  Guise  had  been  the  re-  ■J 
ceptacle  of  the  wildest  hopes,  and  had  harbored  the  most  extrav- 
agant schemes.    Enioying  unlimited  credit  with  the 

Ambition  of        =  ir  •  i      i  •  f  t-. 

the  Duke  of  people  as  the  seli-constituted  champion  or  Koman 
Catholicism,  the  idol  of  a  clergy  that  viewed  his  ad- 
vancement as  a  pledge  of  the  overthrow  of  heresy,  a  prince  still 
in  his  early  prime,  whose  manly  beauty  was  scarcely  marred  by 
the  honorable  scar  securing  him  the  epithet  of  "Le  balafre," 
and  an  adept  in  all  the  arts  that  conciliate  favor  and  confii-m 
friendship.  Guise  was  quick  to  discern  the  possibilities  of  his 
situation.  Chafing  under  the  fate  that  decreed  him  birth  as  a 
subject,  he  never  for  a  single  instant  forgot  that  a  king  of  Scot- 
land married  a  daughter  of  Duke  Claude  of  Guise,  and  that 
Mary  Stuart,  Queen  of  Scotland  and  of  France,  was  his  cousin. 
Kor  did  the  voice  of  sycophantic  followers  tire  of  repeating  the 
suggestion  that  to  him,  as  a  lineal  descendant  of  Charlemagne,  not 
to  Henry  of  Yalois,  much  less  to  his  apostate  cousin  of  Xavarre, 
belonged  of  right  the  crown  of  France.  True,  the  ducal  House 
of  Lorraine  had,  of  necessity,  a  superior  title  to  the  succession  ; 
but  the  Guises  gave  themselves  little  solicitude  on  this  score, 
well  assured  that  ample  grounds  would  in  due  time  be  discovered 
for  setting  aside  the  possible  claim  of  a  branch  that  made  no 
pretence  of  being  French  in  character  or  in  past  history. 

Pending  an  opportunity  to  put  forth  a  serious  effort  to  wrest 
the  French  sceptre  from  the  grasp  of  a  monarch  confessedly  one 
of  the  feeblest  of  his  line,  Henry  of  Guise  had  not  resigned 
himself  to  inaction.  Xaturally  the  island  of  Great  Britain, 
both  because  of  its  proximity  to  France  and  by  reason  of  the 

Huguenots  converted  the  "hallo  du  minage  "  into  a  place  of  worship.  Here, 
too,  fhey  met  on  any  emergency  of  a  secular  character,  to  discuss  measures  of 
self-defence.  A.  Crottet,  Histoire  des  eglises  reformees  de  Pons,  Gemozac  et 
Mortagne  on  Saintonge  (Bordeaux,  1841),  S)3. 


2S4 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.         Ch.  V. 


religion  professed  by  the  ruler  of  the  southern  part,  afforded 
the  most  attractive  Held  for  intrigue.  A  heretical  queen  was 
Designs  upon  facto  a  deposed  queen,  and  when  to  the  taint  of 
England.  hcrcsy  was  added  the  express  and  formal  excommuni- 
cation of  the  pope,  the  dominions  of  Queen  Elizabeth  could  be 
regarded  by  a  devout  servant  of  the  "  Holy  See  "  only  as  a  law- 
ful prize  for  the  first  comer  who  might  be  of  orthodox  sentiments 
and  of  sufficient  military'  prowess.  In  the  city  of  Paris,  at  the 
house  of  the  papal  nuncio,  or  at  the  house  of  the  Jesuits,  or  at 
the  house  of  the  ambassador  Juan  Baptista  de  Tassis,  were  held 
those  grave  deliberations  respecting  the  best  method  of  freeing 
the  world  from  the  presence  and  dominion  of  the  indomitable 
princess  whom  all  the  conspirators  joined  in  styling  the  English 
Jezebel.  The  Duke  of  Guise  offered  to  lead  an  invading  force, 
and  to  effect  a  landing  of  four  thousand  troops  of  his  own  on 
the  coast  of  Northumberland ;  while  his  brother,  Charles  of 
Mayenne,  should  conduct  as  many  more  to  Sussex ;  and  Duke 
Albert  of  Bavaria,  with  five  thousand  Germans,  should  descend 
upon  Xorfolk.  These  scanty  forces  were  to  be  supplemented 
by  the  retainers  of  the  great  Roman  Catholic  noblemen  of  Eng- 
land, who  had  pledged  themselves  to  rise  in  mass  and  join  the 
foreigners  coming  to  effect  their  liberation.  Happily,  however, 
the  projectors  of  this  magnificent  scheme  were  not  altogether 
of  one  mind.  The  English  Jesuits,  jealous  for  the  influence 
Dissension  ^'^  Philip  tliB  Secoud,  iusistcd  that  the  conduct  of 
between  the    the  enterprise  should  be  more  distinctly  confided  to 

conspirators.  ^     ^-     i  •  ii  •(•/-!• 

the  Catholic  kmg,  and  that,  even  it  Guise  were  per- 
mitted to  lead,  the  troops  employed  should  not  be  Frenchmen 
but  Spaniards.  And  as  for  Philip  himself,  although  the  details 
of  the  plot  had  been  thoroughly  discussed  for  months  and  even 
for  years,  that  prudent  monarch  found,  as  the  moment  for  action 
approached  and  everything  turned  upon  prompt  decision,  fresh 
reasons  for  caution,  and  scrupled  about  trusting  any  French 
general  with  the  chief  command.  Thus  the  last  chance  of  suc- 
cess slipped  through  the  fingers  of  the  impatient  captains  and 
theologians  who  from  Paris  and  Eheims  had  laid  cunning  plans 
for  the  overthrow  and  death  of  Elizabeth.  The  Spanish  vessels 
essential  for  the  transport  of  troops  never  arrived.  Meanwhile 


1584. 


THE  HOLY  LEAGUE. 


285 


the  sagacious  forethought  of  Walsingham,  in  providing  her 
majesty  with  a  legion  of  spies,  who,  in  tiie  garb  of  priests,  or  of 
members  of  the  Order  of  Jesus,  penetrated  the  inmost  recesses 
of  religious  houses  and  communicated  to  the  English  secretary  of 
state  the  most  private  resolutions  of  Romish  conspirators  before 
The  plot  laid  ^^^^  ^'^'^  ^'^^  fairly  dry  upon  the  paper  to  which  those 
bare.  resolutious  Were  consigned,  was  rewarded  by  ample 

discoveries.  At  the  right  moment  every  feature  of  the  plot 
against  Protestant  England  and  its  queen  was  laid  bare,  and 
the  precise  part  taken  by  Philip,  by  Gregory  the  Thirteenth,  by 
the  Jesuits,  by  Guise,  by  the  minor  instruments  employed,  lay 
open  to  the  light  of  day.  Francis  Throkmorton — unworthy 
nephew  of  the  eminent  statesman,  Sir  Xicholas,  whose  invalu- 
able correspondence  furnishes  a  clew  to  the  intricacies  of  French 
history  at  the  time  of  the  outbreak  of  the  civil  wars — disclosed, 
when  extended  on  the  rack,  even  the  places  on  the  English 
coast  where  the  invading  fleet  was  to  land,  and  the  names  of 
the  English  Roman  Catholics  that  had  promised  their  co-opera- 
tion. And  AVilliam  Parry,  a  few  weeks  later,  described  the 
manner  in  which  the  detestable  plot  to  assassinate  the  English 
queen  was  concocted,  and  reluctantly  informed  "Walsingham 
where  he  had  hidden  that  remarkable  letter  in  which  the  Car- 
dinal of  Como,  in  the  pope's  name,  had  conveyed  his  holiness's 
strong  desire  that  Parry  shoidd  persevere  in  his  laudable  pur- 
pose of  murder,  and  had  sent  his  pontifical  blessing  with  a  con- 
cession of  plenary  indulgence  and  remission  of  all  his  sins.' 

Gregory  and  Philip  were  out  of  the  reach  of  the  English 
government,  but  upon  one  remarkable  man  the  hand  of  the 
executioner  might  justly  have  been  laid.  Bernardino  de  Men- 
doza,  Spanish  ambassador  at  London,''  stood  clearly  convicted 

'  For  the  plot  against  England  in  which  Guise  was  concerned  the  reader 
may  consult,  with  profit,  Froude,  History  of  England,  xi.  (Reign  of  Elizabeth, 
chapter  31);  Michelet,  La  Ligue  et  Henri  IV.,  chapitre  10.  The  narrative  of 
Parry's  plot,  translated  into  French,  is  the  second  of  the  numerous  documents 
of  the  Memoires  de  la  Ligue,  a  collection  of  which  the  first  volume  appeared 
in  1587.  The  letter  of  the  Cardinal  of  Como,  dated  Rome,  January  30,  1584, 
is  given,  i.  34,  in  the  original  Italian,  with  trilling  mistakes,  and  in  French. 

-  "  One  Bernardin  Mendoza,"  wrote  Walsingham  to  Dr.  Dale,  July  17,  1574, 
"is  sent  from  the  King  of  Spain  to  use  Spanish  compliments  to  lull  tlieiu 


2S6 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.       Cn.  V. 


by  the  testimony  of  Tlirokmorton — corroborated  in  all  its  parts 
by  the  envoy's  own  correspondence  with  his  master,  first  brought 
Bernardino  de  Hght  in  our  own  days— of  having  stimulated  and 
Mendoza.  abetted  the  nefarious  project.  It  was,  of  course, 
impossible  to  permit  him  to  remain  at  the  English  court,  but, 
fortunately  for  him,  the  royal  council  did  not  think  fit  to 
punish  his  breach  of  the  law  of  nations  by  sending  him  to  the 
scaffold.  As  it  was,  after  having  been  unceremoniously  expelled 
from  England,  in  January,  1581,  he  was  sent  to  France  by 
Philip,  a  few  months  later,  to  condole  with  the  king  upon  the 
death  of  his  brother.  Before  the  close  of  the  year  he  had  taken 
the  place  of  Tassis  as  resident  Spanish  ambassador  at  Paris. 

Few  Frenchmen  w^ere  destined  to  play  so  important  a  part  in 
the  history  of  their  own  country,  for  the  next  ten  years,  as  this 
intriguing  Spaniaixl,  whose  house  became  at  once  the  centre  of 
all  the  sinister  plots,  directed  not  so  much  against  the  existence 
of  the  Huguenots  in  France  as  against  the  crown  itself.  It  was 
not  by  accident  that  Mendoza  had  been  assigned  to  so  important 
a  post.  Iso  man  could  have  been  found  in  Spain  better  quali- 
fied to  discharge  its  responsible  trusts.  Of  a  family  inferior  in 
distinction  to  no  other  of  the  peninsula,  and  himself  boasting 
of  important  military  service  in  the  Netherlands,  he  came  to 
France  rich  in  the  experience  of  years  spent  mostly  in  at- 
tempting to  deceive  Queen  Elizabeth  respecting  the  intentions 
of  Philip  and  the  Roman  Catholic  powers.  Proud  and  im- 
perious by  nature,  he  was  no  novice  in  the  art  of  dissimulation, 
and  few  diplomatists  could  surpass  him  in  the  solemnity  with 
which  he  was  in  the  habit  of  asseverating  the  truth  of  state- 
ments false  but  profitable.  Of  regret  that  he  was  compelled 
to  stoop  to  such  dishonorable  expedients  his  secret  despatches 
betray  not  the  faintest  trace.  On  other  points  his  sensibility 
was  more  keen.  Threats  of  punishment  for  the  treacherous 
plots  which  he  had  countenanced  against  the  person  of  a  friendly 
sovereign  to  whose  court  he  had  been  deputed  were  hurled  back 
M-ith  contempt.    For  the  most  part,  however,  he  preferred  the 


to  sleep,  until  they  have  compounded  their  troubles  in  Flanders,  when  all 
\rise  men  think  they  will  wake  them."   State  Paper  OfSce. 


15&4. 


THE  HOLY  LEAGUE. 


287 


path  of  conciliation,  and,  while  fomenting  discord  and  devising 
the  ruin  of  all  with  whose  interests  the  policy  of  Spain  was  not 
coincident,  he  maintained  a  gracious  exterior,  llis  lavish  ex- 
penditure of  money  both  surprised  and  alarmed  his  fellow  am- 
bassadors, who  knew  well  that  neither  the  exchequer  of  their 
states  nor  their  own  private  purses  could  furnish  them  the 
means  of  competing  successfully  with  such  magnificent  but  ru- 
inous extravagance.  "  If  it  be  the  characteristic  of  a  good  am- 
bassador," wrote  Busbecq,  "  to  make  a  great  outlay  of  money,  a 
better  envoy  than  Don  Bernardino  could  not  easily  be  found.'' ' 

The  arrival  of  Bernardino  de  Mendoza  in  France  marks  the 
date  of  the  rapid  development  of  the  League,  which,  after  a 
period  of  about  seven  years  of  suspended  animation,  now  be- 
gan to  show  signs  that  its  capacity  for  mischief  had  not  been 
destroyed,  and  only  awaited  the  opportunity  for  a  more  terri- 
ble manifestation.  Mendoza  had  come  with  tlie  commission  to 
employ  this  engine  of  war  in  the  interests  of  the  King  of  Spain 
and  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church. 

AVe  have  already  noticed  the  use  to  wliich  the  enemies  of 
the  Huguenots  had  turned  the  report  of  the  efforts  made  by 
the  King  of  Navarre  to  unite  all  Protestant  princes  and  states 
in  a  common  profession  and  in  a  defensive  alliance.  We  have 
also  witnessed  the  industry  displayed  in  circulating  the  refusal 
of  that  prince  to  abandon  his  religion  without  previous  instruc- 
tion in  a  free  and  legitimate  council,  as  proof  that,  unless  the 
Koman  Catholics  of  France  should  take  decisive  measures,  they 
would  find  themselves,  on  the  death  of  the  present  monarch, 
the  subjects  of  a  determined  enemy  of  their  faith.  Fresh 
ground  for  misrepresentation  was  now  found  in  the  just  con- 
cessions of  Henry  of  Valois.  The  cities  pledged  to  the  Hugue- 
The  Hugue-  nots  by  thc  edict  of  pacification  of  1577  had  been 
cities^of^  ref^  iutrustcd  to  them  for  six  years  only,  and  the  King 
of  Xavarre,  the  Prince  of  Conde,  and  twenty  other 
Protestant  gentlemen  had  taken  a  solemn  oath,  collectively  and 
individually,  to  restore  these  places  to  the  king  at  the  expira- 

'  In  proof  of  which  he  alleged  the  report  that  Mendoza  intended  to  spend 
the  enormous  sum  of  sixteen  thousand  crowns  a  year  upon  his  legation. 
Busbecq  to  the  emperor,  December  10,  1584,  Epistol;e,  fol.  83. 


288 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVABRE. 


Ch.  V. 


tion  of  the  term  of  time  agreed  upon.'  Since  the  edict  bore  date 
of  September,  1577,  the  cities  were  to  be  given  up  in  the  corre- 
sponding month  in  1583.^ 

As  the  time  approached,  however,  for  redeeming  their  prom- 
ise, the  Huguenots  besought  the  king  to  prolong  the  period  for 
which  they  were  permitted  to  retain  the  cities.  Xor  was  the 
demand  alt02;ether  unreasonable.  The  eight  cities  had  orisi- 
nally  been  conceded  in  view  of  the  excited  condition  of  France 
resulting  from  the  long  prevalence  of  war.  "While  command- 
ing the  Protestants  at  once  to  evacuate  all  the  cities,  towns, 
and  castles  seized  during  the  late  hostilities,  the  edict  gave  a 
satisfactory^  reason  for  leaving  a  few  places  of  refuge  in  their 
hands :  "  And  nevertheless,"  said  the  king,  "  inasmuch  as 
many  private  individuals  have  received  and  suffered,  during 
the  troubles,  so  much  injury  and  damage  in  their  property  and 
persons,  that  hardly  will  they  be  able  to  lose  the  memory  there- 
of so  soon  as  would  be  requisite  for  the  execution  of  our  in- 
tentions ;  desiring  to  avoid  all  the  inconveniences  that  might 
tlierebv  arise,  until  such  time  as  the  existino;  feelings  of  rancor 
and  enmity  be  allayed,  we  have  committed  to  the  custody  of 
those  of  the  said  pretended  reformed  religion,  for  the  term  of 
six  years,  the  following  cities." 

The  conditions  upon  which  the  cities  were  given,  said  the 
Huguenots,  have  not  been  fulfilled ;  the  object  of  the  trust  is 
^  yet  unaccomplished.  The  edict  of  pacification  has 
the  retention  been  executed  in  scarcely  any  of  its  articles,  save  such 
as  depended  on  the  obedience  of  the  Protestants  or 
the  interests  of  the  Poman  Catholics.  When  the  king  spoke 
of  six  years,  he  evidently  intended  six  proper  or,  in  legal  par- 
lance, serviceable  years — that  is,  years  serviceable  in  allaying 
the  existing  rancor  and  enmity.  The  king  ought,  therefore,  to 
imitate  the  intelligent  physician  who,  although  at  first  he  ordered 
the  plaster  to  be  kept  on  the  wound  for  but  six  days,  afterward 

'  See  above,  cliap.  ii.,  p.  166. 

-  The  king's  reply  to  the  Protestants,  of  December  10,  1584,  referred  to 
below,  makes  the  precise  date  to  be  August  17,  1583.  This  is  probably  a 
mere  clerical  error.  The  "  secret  articles  "  of  Bergerac  bear  date  of  Septem- 
ber 17,  1577. 


15S4. 


THE  HOLY  LEAGUE. 


289 


retains  it  as  long  as  may  be  necessary.  And,  in  this  ease,  it  is 
not  the  impatience  of  the  sufferer  that  has  aggravated  the  sore 
by  meddling  with  it,  bnt  the  inconsiderate  temerity  of  the  phy- 
sician's assistant  who,  contrary  to  his  master's  will,  has  poisoned 
the  wound  and  destroyed  the  efficiency  of  the  remedy  applied. 
When  the  results  sought  for  by  the  edict  shall  be  attained, 
it  will  be  time  enough  to  restore  the  cities  originally  given  as 
safeguards  to  the  Protestants.  It  is  dangerous  for  them  to  re- 
store them,  as  it  would  be  cruel  in  the  king  to  insist  upon  their 
restoration,  so  long  as  there  are  many  important  cities  in  France, 
such  as  Toulouse,  Cahors,  Castelnaudary,  and  others,  that  will 
not  allow  a  single  Protestant  to  live  within  their  walls ;  so  long 
as  the  prescriptions  respecting  schools  and  cemeteries,  respect- 
ing patients  in  the  public  hospitals  and  worshippers  in  the 
churches,  are  suffered  to  remain  inoperative  ;  so  long  as  some  of 
the  chambers  of  justice  established  by  the  edict  exist  only  on 
paper,  and  the  jurisdiction  of  others  is  impeded  by  vexatious 
restrictions  ;  so  long,  above  all,  as,  in  spite  of  the  prohibition  of 
insulting  and  seditious  preaching,  the  Roman  Catholic  pulpits 
everywhere  resound  with  declarations  that  the  time  for  the  ex- 
tirpation of  the  Protestant  religion  approaches,  and  some  of  the 
preachers  are  so  audacious  as  to  indulge  in  bloodthirsty  threats 
from  the  sacred  desk,  lauding,  in  the  hearing  of  your  court,  and 
even  in  j'our  majesty's  presence,  the  nmrders  and  massacres 
heretofore  perpetrated,  and  instigating  their  hearers  to  fresh 
acts  of  the  same  kind,  as  if  inviting  them  to  a  participation  in  a 
holy  sacrifice.' 

To  say  that  Henry  of  Yalois  was  convinced  by  the  Huguenot 
arguments  would  be  to  assert  too  much.  In  fact,  while  pre- 
tending to  redress  the  wrongs  of  which  the  King  of  I^avarre 
and  the  Protestant  churches  complained,  and  making  lavish 
professions  of  a  desire  to  act  fairly,  he  continued  for  months  to 


'  "  Cahier  general  dresse  par  M.  Duplessis  siir  les  Memoires  envoyes  au  roy 
de  Navarre  par  les  egices  de  France,  et  presente  au  roy  Henri  III.  par  M. 
de  Clervant"  (July  3,  1583),  Memoires  de  Duplessis  Mornay,  ii.  320-344; 
"Raisons  pour  induire  le  roy  a  accorder  la  prolongation  des  places  pour 
quelques  ans  a  ses  subjects  de  la  relligion  reformee  "  (August  12,  1583),  ibid., 
ii.  358-362. 

Vol.  I.— 19 


290 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.      Cu.  V. 


insist  upon  the  letter  of  the  compact,  so  far  as  his  subjects  of 
the  other  faith  were  concerned.  It  was  only  when  a  Huguenot 
The  king  re-  assemblj'  which,  in  answer  to  repeated  requests,  he 
iong^°theterm  ^^^^  length  permitted  to  come  together  in  the  city 
estant^  ixSes-  Moutaubau,  lu  August  and  September,  1584,  urgent- 
Eion.  ly  renewed  the  petition,  that  he  consented  to  prolong 

the  term  of  the  Protestant  possession.  Even  then  it  is  proba- 
ble that  the  inability  to  secure  their  compliance  with  his  sum- 
mons for  an  instant  surrender  had  much  to  do  with  the 
concession.  However  this  may  be,  the  king,  in  order,  as  he 
said,  to  show  his  desire  to  bring  back  his  subjects  to  obedience 
rather  by  gentle  than  by  harsh  measures,  consented  that  the 
cities  heretofore  granted  to  the  Protestants  be  left  in  their 
guard  for  one  or  two  years,  as  he  should  hereafter  deem  ad- 
visable.' 

The  repeated  refusals  of  Henry  of  Xavarre  to  abjure  his  re- 
ligion, the  exaggerated  story  of  a  great  Protestant  confederacy, 
and  the  complaisance  of  the  king  toward  heretics,  evidenced  by 
The  League  ^^i*^  granting  to  the  Huguenots  prolonged  possession 
aiar'J^n?  ^hc  cltlcs  of  rcfugo,  wcro  not  the  only  sources  of 

rumors.  popular  alarm  for  the  safety  of  the  faith.  "With  rare 
skill  the  League  summoned  fresh  spectres,  unreal  phantoms,  the 
creation  of  a  disordered  imagination,  to  frighten  the  masses  of 
the  people  into  compliance  with  its  suggestions.  Living  in  a 
day  when  knowledge  is  so  generousl}-  diffused,  when  the  im- 
ponderable agents  have  been  impressed  into  man's  service,  in 
order  to  secure  the  instantaneous  transmission  of  accurate  in- 

*  A  condition  was  exacted  that  the  Huguenots  should  give  up  certain  other 
towns  which  they  had,  it  was  alleged,  seized  of  their  own  authorit}'  or  hy  force. 
Upon  this  matter  the  most  important  documents  to  be  consulted  are  :  "  Cahier 
gfini-ral  adresse  par  il.  Duplessis  sur  les  MemoLres  envoj-es  au  roy  de  Navarre 
par  les  eglises  de  France,  et  presente  au  roy  Henry  III.  par  M.  de  Clervaut  " 
(dated  July  3,  1583),  Memoires  de  Duplessis  Mornay,  ii.  320-344  ;  "  Eaisons 
pour  induire  le  roy  a  accorder  la  prolongation  des  places  pour  quelques  ans  a 
ses  subjects  de  la  relligion  reformee  "  (August  12,  1583 1,  ibid.,ii.  858-362; 
and  the  long  "  Cahier  au  roy  "  drawn  up  at  Montauban  by  the  assembly  of  the 
Protestant  churches,  September  7,  1584,  and  signed  not  onh'  by  all  the  dele- 
gates, but  by  Heury  of  Navarre,  with  the  reply  of  Henry  III.  at  the  end  of 
the  separate  articles  and  at  the  close  of  the  whole  document,  ibid.,  ii.  606- 
667. 


1584. 


THE  HOLY  LEAGUE. 


291 


formation  respecting  events  of  the  most  recent  occurrence  at 
the  most  distant  points  on  the  surface  of  the  globe,  we  find  it 
well-nigh  impossible  to  picture  to  ourselves  the  isolation  and 
consequent  ignorance  of  the  people  in  the  sixteenth  eentuiy. 
Where  communication  between  different  parts  of  the  country 
was  sluggish,  infrequent,  and  irregular,  the  wildest  rumors  could 
be  set  on  foot  with  little  immediate  danger  of  detection  and 
contradiction.  The  peasantry  and  the  small  tradesmen  of  the 
towns  were  the  ready  prey  of  designing  men.  Especially  was 
this  the  case  in  matters  directly  or  remotely  affecting  religion. 
The  love  of  the  marvellous,  being  re-enforced  by  the  power  of 
sectarian  hate,  secured  to  the  inventor  of  pious  falsehoods  an 
immediate  and  almost  unimpeded  course  for  the  most  baseless 
of  fabrications.  To  believe  anything  and  everything  asserted  to 
the  disadvantage  of  the  enemies  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 
was  the  fashion ;  while  it  was  often  as  much  as  a  man's  life  was 
worth  to  express  the  slightest  incredulity  respecting  their  actual 
■or  prospective  misdeeds. 

What  wonderful  fictions  had  been  composed  in  order  to  raise 
the  enthusiasm  of  the  populace  to  fever  heat,  we  learn  from 
the  narrative  of  one  Jsicholas  Poulain,  to  which  I 

The  narrative  .  p  c  m 

of  Nicholas    shall  liavo  frequeut  occasion  to  refer  hereafter.  The 

Poulain.  iipit  '-n-i  •• 

heads  of  the  League  m  1  aris,  whose  origm  was  traced 
in  a  preceding  chapter  of  this  history,  had  set  their  hearts 
upon  securing  the  co-operation  of  Poulain,  because,  as  lieuten- 
ant of  the  provost  of  the  province  of  lie  de  France  (the  pro- 
vost himself  being  an  old  man  and  averse  to  labor),  he  had 
virtual  connnand  of  a  good  part  of  the  troops,  within  the  walls 
of  Paris,  upon  whom  the  king  believed  that  he  coidd  count. 
The  lieutenant  had  been  vouched  for  by  friends  who  had  known 
him  for  more  than  a  score  of  years,  aiid  was  therefore  accepted 
without  apparent  distrust.  He  was  first  informed  that  a  fine 
opportunity  now  offered  itself  for  him  to  gain  a  sum  of  money 
that  would  enable  him  to  live  at  his  ease,  as  well  as  to  obtain 
the  favor  of  certain  lords  and  high  personages  of  the  city  of 
Paris  who  had  it  in  their  power  to  give  him  rapid  advance- 
ment. The  only  condition  was  fidelity  to  a  cause  which  was 
no  other  than  the  preservation  of  the  Catholic,  Apostolic,  and 


392 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.        Ch.  V. 


Roman  faith.  Having  given  the  necessary  promise,  and  taken 
a  solemn  oath,  Poiilain  was  notified  to  come  the  next  morning 
to  the  house  of  Master  Jean  Le  Clerc,  a  "  procureur  "  of  the 
Parliament  of  Paris.  Here  he  found  assembled  a  number  of 
the  members  of  the  Parisian  League,  together  with  a  gentle- 
man bv  the  name  of  JNIayneville,  sent,  as  he  was  informed,  by 
the  Duke  of  Guise,  to  consult  with  them  respecting  their  com- 
mon enterprise.'  Le  Clerc  hhnself  initiated  the  new  member 
into  the  secrets  of  the  organization  which  he  had  joined. 
The  Catholic  religion  is  lost,"  said  he,  "  unless  prompt 
measures  be  taken  to  succor  it  and  forestall  the  prep- 

Pretended  .  n      r        •  m 

Huguenot     arations  made  for  its  ruin.     There  are  upward  of 

conspirac}'.  ^ 

ten  thousand  Huguenots  in  the  Faubourg  Saint  Ger- 
main intent  on  cutting  the  throats  of  the  Catholics,  in  order 
to  give  the  crown  to  the  King  of  Xavarre.''  There  are  many 
others  hired  for  the  same  purpose,  as  well  in  the  city  as  in 
its  suburbs,  one-half  of  them  Huguenots  and  the  other  half 
Politiques.  A  number  of  the  members  of  the  royal  council 
and  of  parliament  favor  the  King  of  Xavarre ;  and  provision 
must  be  made  to  meet  this  difficulty.  At  the  same  time  the 
good  Catholics  must  secretly  take  np  arms,  so  as  to  get  the 
upper  hand  and  defeat  the  plots  of  their  enemies.  They  have 
good  princes  and  high  noblemen  ready  to  support  them — the 
Dukes  of  Guise,  Mayenne,  and  Aumale,  with  the  entire  house 
of  Lorraine.  The  pope,  the  cardinals,  bishops,  abbots,  and  the 
whole  body  of  the  clergy,  with  the  Sorbonne,  will  help  them, 
and  they  will  be  backed  by  the  King  of  Spain,  the  Prince 
of  Parma,  and  the  Duke  of  Savoy.  The  king,  we  know  of  a 
truth,  favors  the  King  of  Tsavarre,  and,  for  this  reason,  has 
sent  to  him  the  Duke  of  Epernon  to  give  him,  by  way  of  loan 
or  otherwise,  the  sum  of  two  hundred  thousand  crowns,  in 

'  Mayneville,  or  Meneville,  appears,  from  the  Simancas  MSS.,  to  have  been 
one  of  the  most  customary  agents  of  Guise  iu  his  communications  with  Meu- 
doza  and  witli  the  Parisian  League.    See  also  De  Thou,  vi.  721. 

-  This  was  tlie  standard  formula.  Elsewhere,  referring  to  the  recruits 
obtained  from  the  various  trades  in  the  city,  Poulain  informs  us  :  "  a  tous 
lesquels  I'on  faisoit  entendre  que  les  Huguenots  vouloient  couper  la  gorge  aux 
Catholiques,  et  faire  venir  le  roy  de  Navarre  a  la  couronne."  Memoires  de 
Henry  III.,  150,  151. 


1584. 


THE  HOLY  LEAGUE. 


293 


order  that  he  may  be  in  a  position  to  wage  war  against  the 
good  Catholics.  But  there  are  already  secured  secretly  in 
Paris  a  goodly  number  of  men,  all  of  whom  have  sworn  to 
die  rather  than  suffer  this  outrage  to  be  perpetrated.  Nor 
will  they  find  any  great  difficulty  in  their  way.  They  will 
only  have  to  overcome  the  king's  forces  in  Paris,  which  are 
feeble  and  small  in  number — some  two  or  three  hundred 
guards  at  the  Louvre,  the  provost  of  the  hotel  de  ville  and  his 
archers,  and  the  provost  of  the  Isle  de  France."  The  address 
ended  with  a  few  hints  as  to  how  Poulain  might  render  the 
League  good  service,  and  himself  derive  great  advantage,  by 
playing  into  the  hands  of  the  conspirators.' 

Such  were  the  horrors  upon  which  the  imagination  and  fears 
of  the  "good  Catholics"  were  fed.  To  "cut  the  throats  of  the 
good  Catholics"  of  the  citj^  of  Paris,  forsooth,  was  a  project 
very  likely  to  enter  the  heads  of  the  Huguenots.  So  seem 
their  opponents  to  have  thought,  since  the  accusation  recurs 
periodically — in  1572,  in  1576,  and  now  in  158-1,  not  to  speak 
of  other  occasions  at  an  earlier  date.  And  each  time  the 
credulous  people  swallows  the  absurd  story  without  the  least 
objection,  and,  when  it  can,  sets  itself  to  murdering  the  sup- 
posed plotters  of  so  much  mischief,  never  deigning  or  being 
able  to  consider  the  improbability  that  the  hated  sect,  so  in- 
significant in  numbers  in  Northern  France,  should  dream  of 
getting  the  better  of  its  antagonists  in  the  populous  capital  of 
the  realm. 

Meantime,  political  considerations  very  vital  to  his  own  in- 

'  "  Le  procez  verbal  d'un  nomine  Nicholas  Poulaiu,  lieutenant  de  la  pre- 
voste  de  I'lsle  de  France,  qui  contient  I'liistoire  de  la  Ligue,  depuis  le  second 
Janvier  1585  jusques  au  jour  des  Barricades,  escheues  le  12  May  1588."  Me- 
moires  de  Henry  III.,  145,  etc.  Also  in  Cimber  et  Daujou,  Archives 
curieuses,  xi.  289-323.  Poulain,  in  disgnst,  revealed  the  secrets  of  the 
League  to  the  king,  from  time  to  time,  and  was  particularly  serviceable  in 
frustrating  a  scheme,  matured  in  the  house  of  the  Jesuits  near  St.  Paul's 
Church,  for  treacherously  seizing  Boulogne-sur-mer,  "quils  disoient  leur 
estre  fort  necessaire,  pour  faire  aborder  et  descendre  I'armee  qu'ils  attendoient 
d'Espagne."  Memoires  de  Henry  III.,  153.  Latterly,  if  not  from  the  first, 
Poulain  was  a  spy  in  tlie  king's  pay,  as  appears  from  the  extracts  of  the  ex- 
pense accounts  of  the  monarch  (1588),  published  in  the  Archives  curieuses, 
X.  433. 


294 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.        Ch.  V. 


terests  warned  Philip  the  Second  that  he  must  give  the  signal 
to  his  French  allies  and  future  stipendiaries  to  bestir  them- 
selves. 

The  States-General  of  the  IS'etherlands  had  finally,  in  Octo- 
^  .  ber,  1584,  resolved  to  offer  to  Henry  the  Third  the  sovereignty 
of  the  United  Provinces.  Even  Holland,  long  reluctant  to  take 
this  step,  had  finally  acquiesced  in  the  action  of  the  sister  re- 
publics, and  the  last  obstacle  in  the  way  of  concerted  action  had 
been  taken  out  of  the  way.  Rarely  has  monarch  received  so 
rich  a  present  as  that  which  a  deputation  of  Dutch 

Offer  of  the  ^  .     .  ,  .  , 

sovereiprnty  statcsuieu  was  uow  commissioued  to  place  m  the 
lands  to  Hen-  hands  of  Heury  of  Yalois  ;  never  has  kingdom  en- 
'  joyed  the  prospect  of  a  more  welcome  accession  to  its 
territory  and  resources.  Rich  in  her  broad  fields  and  manifold 
industries,  France  had  now  the  promise  of  becoming  the  most 
commercial  state  upon  the  face  of  the  earth  by  the  annexation 
of  the  free  provinces  at  the  mouth  of  the  Rhine,  whose  inhabi- 
tants, not  content  with  wresting  the  lands  they  inhabited  from 
the  grasp  of  the  ocean,  had  avenged  the  wrongs  I'eceived  at  its 
hands  by  daring  and  untiring  efforts  to  compel  every  pait  of 
the  wide  seas  to  render  tribute  to  their  growing  wealth  and 
power. 

The  hearty  acceptance  of  the  gift  by  the  very  Christian  king, 
strong  in  the  support  of  a  united  and  patriotic  people,  tliere 
could  be  little  doubt,  would  have  placed  the  hardly  contested 
war  for  Dutch  independence  beyond  the  possibility  of  failure. 
Unfortunately,  it  was  not  in  the  power  of  the  last  Yalois  to 
rally  to  his  standard,  even  in  a  conflict  appealing  so  strongly  to 
national  pride,  the  full  resources  of  his  kingdom,  the  first  of 
Christian  states.  Xot  the  most  sanguine  advocate  of  the  ac- 
ceptance of  Holland's  magnificent  offer  could  delude  himself 
into  hoping  that  the  "  good  Catholics "  of  Henry's  dominions 
would,  with  unanimity,  flock  to  their  king's  support.  But  it 
was  of  the  utmost  importance  to  Philip  that  the  offer  should 
not  be  entertained  at  all,  or  if  entertained  be  peremptorily  de- 
clined. To  secure  this  result  the  surest  plan  seemed  to  be  to 
set  at  once  in  operation  that  powerful  enginery  with  which  the 
League  had  furnished  him,  and  again  to  plunge  a  land  which  had 


15St 


THE  HOLY  LEAGUE. 


295 


scarcely  had  time  to  breathe  the  invigorating  air  of  peace  into 
the  horrors  of  civil  war. 

Just  now  King  Henry  was  beginning  to  awake  from  his 
dream  of  security,  and  to  realize  that,  after  all,  the  chief  dan- 
ger was  to  be  apprehended,  not  from  liberty-loving  Huguenots, 
but  from  Spanish-minded  Leaguers.  Tidings  came  to  him  of 
conferences  between  his  subjects  and  those  of  Philip,  obscure 
hints  of  compacts  made  by  Frenchmen  with  the  natural  enemies 
of  France,  and  of  pledges  of  money  for  service  yet  to  be  ren- 
dered ;  vague  accounts  of  associations  formed  in  the  heart  of 
the  kingdom,  nominally  for  the  defence  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
religion,  but  in  reality  for  the  overthrow  of  the  royal  authoi-ity. 
When  all  this  became  so  apparent  that  no  one  but  a  person  wil- 
fully blind  to  the  truth  could  be  in  doubt  of  the  approach  of 
serious  trouble,  Henry  endeavored  to  conjure  the  storm  with 
A  royal  dec-  words  and  threats.  On  the  eleventh  of  Xovember, 
ig^i^nst"  the  1584,  a  declaration  was  signed  by  the  king  at  Saint 
vember'  ^1  GrGrmain  en  Laye,  "  against  all  persons  making  leagues, 
1584.  associations,  enrolment  of  troops,  intrigues  and  prac- 

tices against  the  estate  of  the  realm."  It  was  carried  in  haste 
to  parliament,  and  was  registered  the  same  day.  On  the  morrow 
it  was  published  by  the  crier  on  all  the  public  squares  of  the 
capital.  Henry  set  forth  in  this  document  the  earnestness  with 
which  he  had  been  laboring  daily  more  and  more  to  remove 
every  occasion  for  the  disturbance  of  the  peace  and  tranquillity 
which  he  desired  to  be  enjoyed  by  the  subjects  God  had  placed 
under  his  care.  He  declared  that  nothing  could  therefore  be 
more  displeasing  to  him  than  to  hear,  as  he  had  heard,  that 
"  certain  evil  spirits,  enemies  of  the  public  tranquillity  of  his 
kingdom,"  had  been  unable  to  restrain  their  propensity  to  work 
all  the  mischief  in  their  power,  and  had  begun  to  solicit  the 
nobles,  as  well  as  members  of  the  other  orders  in  the  state,  to 
enter  into  a  league  or  association  and  to  sign  certain  papers  not 
less  prejudicial  to  the  common  welfare  than  insulting  to  the 
royal  dignity.  For  this  reason  the  king  announced  that  all 
who  solicited  others  to  enter  into  such  league  or  sign  such  paper 
were  guilty  of  treason,  and  also  affixed  the  penalties  of  treason 
to  all  compliance  with  their  solicitations.    At  the  same  time 


296 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE. 


Ch.  V. 


lie  granted  full  and  unconditional  pardon  to  all  persons  who, 
before  the  first  day  of  the  new  year,  should  renounce  the  dis- 
loyal engagements  into  which  they  might  have  entered.' 

Had  proclamations  been  sufficient  to  strike  terror  into  the 
hearts  of  the  secret  conspirators  against  the  peace  of  France, 
the  threats  of  Henry  of  Yalois  would  have  put  an  effectual  end 
to  the  League.  As  it  was,  the  declaration,  if  it  served  any  pur- 
pose, only  hastened  the  catastrophe. 

Late  in  December,  a  council  met  in  the  famous  castle  of 
Joinville,  whose  conclusions  were  to  be  fraught  with  as  much 
Conference  of  misory  and  bloodshed  for  France  as  had  been  the 
jmn'^iuirDe-  Suuday's  assault  of  Francis  of  Guise  upon  the  Ilugue- 
cember,  io84.  worsliippcrs  iu  tlic  rudc  barn  in  the  neighboring 
village  of  Vassy,'  nearly  twenty-three  years  before.  As  if  in 
irony,  the  day  chosen  for  signing  a  document  so  pregnant  of 
disaster  to  crown  and  people  was  the  last  day  of  the  year ;  the 
last  day,  also,  of  the  period  of  grace  allowed  by  the  terms  of  the 
king's  recent  declaration. 

There  were  present  at  Joinville :  first  and  foremost,  Juan 
Baptista  de  Tassis,  commander  of  the  order  of  Saint  James, 
late  ambassador  at  the  court  of  France,  the  skilful  workman  to 
whom  had  been  intrusted  by  Philip  the  delicate  task  of  ar- 
ranging the  parts  of  the  fearful  engine  which  was  to  bring  glory 
and  power  to  Spain  and  deal  ruin  and  death  to  countless  souls 
in  France.  His  work  done  and  well  done,  he  was  now,  after 
giving  the  last  finishing  touches  and  setting  it  well  under  way 
on  its  destructive  mission,  to  consign  it  to  hands  not  less 
scrupulous  and  perhaps  equally  able,  the  hands  of  his  succes- 
sor Mendoza.  Juan  Moreo,  commander  of  the  Knights  Hos- 
pitallers of  Malta,  was  his  assistant.  Xext  came  Frangois  de 
Mayneville,  the  representative  of  the  old  cardinal,  Charles  of 
Bourbon,  now  for  the  first  time  laying  claim  to  the  title  of  heir 
presumptive  of  the  crown  of  France.  The  third  place  was  held 
by  the  princes  of  Lorraine  origin.    Henry,  Duke  of  Guise,  and 


'  Text  of  the  Declaration  in  Memoires  de  Nevers,  i.  633,  634. 
vi.  (book  80)  393. 

'•'  Joinville  and  Vassy  are  not  over  ten  or  twelve  miles  apart. 


SeeDe  Thou, 


15S4. 


THE  CONFERENCE  OF  JOINVILLE. 


297 


his  brother  Charles,  Duke  of  Mayenne,  appeared  in  person.  The 
former  presented  a  paper  giving  him  full  power  to  act  in  be- 
half of  his  brother,  the  Cardinal  Louis  of  Guise,  and  his  cousins, 
the  Dukes  of  Auniale  and  Elbeuf . 

Between  these  few  actors  the  terms  of  the  definite  alliance 
entered  into  by  Philip  and  the  League  were  soon  settled.  They 
The  terms  of  ^^^^'^  rcduccd  to  tlie  following  points : 
aiuance.  flic  Cardinal  of  Bourbon  was  recognized  as  heir  to 

the  crown,  in  case  the  present  King  of  France  should  die  child- 
less, to  the  exclusion  of  all  heretical  or  relapsed  claimants. 

The  cardinal,  on  his  accession  to  the  throne,  was  to  strengthen 
the  present  union  by  ratifying  the  Treaty  of  Cateau  Cambresis, 
made  in  1559,  and  pledging  himself  by  oath  to  observe  it. 

Xo  other  religion  than  the  Roman  Catholic  and  Apostolic 
would  be  tolerated  in  France,  and  all  persons  refusing  to  em- 
brace it  would  be  exterminated. 

The  decrees  of  the  Council  of  Trent  would  be  accepted  and 
published  in  France. 

The  future  king  was  to  renounce  for  himself  and  his  successors 
all  alliance  with  the  Turk. 

Xo  undertaking  was  to  be  permitted  that  might  jeopard  the 
Spanish  navigation  and  trade  with  the  Indies. 

To  defray  the  expense  of  the  war  which  was  to  be  waged  by 
the  princes  of  the  League  for  the  extirpation  of  the  Huguenots, 
Philip  engaged  to  advance  to  them  monthly  fifty  thousand 
crowns  of  gold,  beginning  at  the  day  on  which  war  should  be 
declared. 

These  advances  were  to  be  repaid  by  the  cardinal-king  at 
his  accession. 

The  princes  were  to  assist  Philip  in  recovering  the  cities 
belonging  to  him,  now  unlawfully  held  by  the  French,  and  es- 
pecially the  city  of  Cauibray. 

For  the  mutual  defence  of  France  and  of  the  Low  Countries 
there  was  to  be  an  eternal  and  inviolable  alliance  between  Philip 
and  his  successors,  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  Roman  Catholic 
princes  and  their  successors,  on  the  other ;  and  Philip,  besides 
the  stipulated  monthly  allowance  above  provided,  was  to  send 
them  as  many  men  and  as  much  money  as  they  might  need. 


298 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.        Ch.  V. 


All  Roman  Catholic  nobles,  gentlemen,  cities,  and  universi- 
ties, and,  in  short,  all  Roman  Catholics  of  whatever  station  that 
might  ally  themselves  with  the  parties  to  this  compact,  were 
to  be  regarded  as  comprehended  in  it ;  provision  being  par- 
ticularly made  for  the  Dukes  of  Mercceur  and  Kevers,  of  whose 
sentiments,  though  they  were  absent,  it  was  supposed  that  there 
could  be  no  doubt,  and  for  the  insertion  of  whose  signatures 
blanks  were  purposely  left  at  the  end  of  the  document. 

The  compact  was  for  the  present  to  be  kept  a  profound  se- 
cret, in  view  of  the  trouble  which  the  heretics  might  create 
were  its  contents  to  be  divulged. 

Such  was  the  Treaty  of  Joinville,  to  which,  consistently 
with  the  reputation  of  all  the  high  contracting  parties  for 
sincerity,  guilelessness,  and  disinterestedness,  they  prefixed  a 
"  protestation  "  to  the  effect  that  no  one  of  them  was  moved 
in  the  premises  by  any  other  consideration  than  a  pure  desire 
to  preserve  the  Roman  Catholic  religion,  imperilled,  as  it  was, 
by  the  open  and  covert  attacks  of  heresy.'  In  point  of  fact, 
however,  it  may  be  doubted  whether  any  two  of  the  princes, 
present  in  person  or  represented  at  the  conference  by  others, 
had  the  same  ends  in  view,  or  cared  very  much  for  the  interests 
Designs  of  oach  Other.  So  far  as  the  King  of  Spain  was 
Philip  II.  concerned.  Bourbon,  Guise,  and  Mayenne  were  simply 
the  convenient  tools  thrown  in  his  way  by  fortune  for  sowing 
discord  in  a  neighboring  kingdom,  for  diverting  attention  and 
preventing  interference  with  his  Xetherland  provinces,  and 
for  furthering  his  ambitious  designs  upon  England  and  Eng- 
land's queen  ;  not  to  speak  of  those  other  and  more  distant 
plans  of  a  woi-ld-monarchy  in  which  France  figured  as  an  ap- 
pendage of  the  Spanish  peninsula.  What  matter  to  him  whether 
Henry  of  Talois,  or  the  decrepit  voluptuary,  Charles  of  Bourbon, 
or  the  ambitious  Guise,  claiming  descent  from  Charlemagne, 
occupied  the  throne  which  he  hoped  would  one  day  belong  to 

»  De  Thou,  vi.  (book  81)  445-447 ;  Davila  (Eng.  trans,  of  1678),  bk.  7,  254, 
255.  The  monthly  receipts  of  the  Duke  of  Guise,  for  50,000  crowns,  in  tlie 
name  of  all  "  comprised  in  our  common  league."  appear  in  the  Simaucas  MSS. ; 
see,  for  instance,  the  document  in  J.  de  Croze,  Les  Guises,  les  Valois,  et 
Philippe  II.,  i.  372. 


1534. 


THE  CONFERENCE  OF  JOINVILLE. 


299 


him  or-  to  a  child  of  his  ?  What  was  said  of  the  Spanish  am- 
bassador at  Paris,  a  little  later,  by  one  of  the  cool  lookers-on  at 
the  frightful  tragedy  enacted  on  French  soil,  was  pre-eminently 
true  of  the  ambassador's  master,  that  crowned  scribbler  who, 
from  his  closet  in  the  Escorial,  issued  in  secret  his  ordei-s  to  set 
on  foot  perfidious  schemes  of  murder  and  rapine.  His  was  the 
part  of  the  devil  who,  with  truly  Satanic  craft,  lures  men  into 
danger  and  then  abandons  them  to  their  fate  and  suffers  them 
to  perish.' 

Of  Henry  of  Guise  it  may  be  said  with  truth  that  a  more 
perfect  specimen  of  duplicity  cannot  be  found,  even  in  the  an- 
nals of  a  family  by  no  means  deficient  in  examples 
the  Duke  of  of  doublc-dealing.  Isot  only  had  the  mantle  of  his 
uncle,  the  Cardinal  of  Lorraine,  fallen  on  his  shoul- 
ders, but  in  the  distribution  of  that  worthy's  mental  and  moral 
effects  the  eldest  nephew  had  certainly  secured  fully  the  share 
to  which  he  was  entitled  by  birthright.  It  was  characteristic 
of  him  that  he  worked  by  himself,  confiding  his  inmost  designs 
to  not  a  living  soul.  Under  a^  brilliant  mask  of  affability  and 
confidence  he  concealed  the  darkest  plots.  To  everyone  he 
had  a  different  story  to  tell.  He  assured  the  common  people 
and  the  world  in  general  that  he  was  laboring,  in  perfect  con- 
sistency with  his  duty  to  liis  king,  only  for  the  preservation  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  faith.  He  filled  Cardinal  Bourbon's  eai's 
with  stories  of  future  greatness,  and  seriously  proposed  that  he 
should  obtain  a  dispensation  from  the  pope  to  marry  Guise's 
widowed  sister,  the  Duchess  of  Montpensier.  He  privately 
told  the  queen  mother  that  his  sole  design  was  the  elevation  of 
the  son  of  the  Duke  of  Lorraine  to  the  throne  of  France ;  for, 
at  best.  Bourbon  could  last  but  a  few  years,  and  then  a  grand- 
son of  Catharine — the  offspring  of  her  own  daxighter — would 
succeed  to  the  inheritance  of  her  childless  son,  Henry.  Mean- 
time, he  did  not  leave  the  King  of  Spain  in  ignorance  respect- 
ing the  insincerity  of  his  professions  both  to  the  cardinal  and  to 


'  "  Consigliato  a  cio  dall'  ambasciatore  di  Spagna,  il  quale,  a  guisa  del  de- 
monio,  accompagna  gli  uomini  al  pericolo  poi  ne  gli  laseia  perire."  Letter  of 
Filippo  Cavriana,  May  18,  1587,  Ncgociations  avee  hi  Toseane,  iv.  087. 


300 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.        Ch.  V. 


the  queen  mother,  hinting  that  the  advancement  of  his  own  im- 
mediate family  was  naturally  a  matter  of  more  concern  to  him 
than  the  aggrandizement  of  a  more  distant  branch  of  the  same 
house.  But  not  even  to  his  own  brothers,  the  Duke  of  May- 
enne  and  the  Cardinal  of  Guise,  much  less  to  his  cousins  of 
Aumale  and  Elbeuf,  did  the  Balafre  intrust  the  dangerous  secret 
of  his  designs  upoii  the  royal  dignity. 

It  is  needless  to  speak  further  of  Cardinal  Bourbon,  who 
really  had  no  longer  perception  enough  to  sec  that  his  senile 
aspirations  were  an  object  of  covert  ridicule  to  all  his  fellow- 
conspirators." 

Provision  had,  as  I  have  said,  been  made  in  the  Treaty  of 
Join  ville  for  the  addition  of  the  signature  of  Louis  de  Gonzagues, 
Duke  of  I^evers,  a  politic  and  cautious  nobleman,  who  had 
The  Duke  of  doubtlcss  been  absent  from  the  conference  because 
Eoiveftrcon-  scarcely  knew  what  to  do.  Half  Italian  and 
suit  the  pope,  ^^i^  French,  the  fiery  advocate  of  the  doctrine  of 
the  "  one  religion  "  at  the  states  general  of  Blois,  he  was  yet 
perplexed  with  doubts  as  to  his  duty,  or,  perhaps,  rather  his 
interests,  when  devotion  to  the  Eoman  Catholic  Church  and 
loyalty  to  his  king  seemed  to  be  drawing  him  in  two  opposite 
directions.  He  had  lost  none  of  his  intolerance  durino-  the 
past  eight  years.  He  was  as  anxious  as  ever  to  proclaim  a  new 
crusade.  To  use  the  expression  of  the  scoffing  queen  mother, 
he  was  quite  ready  to  send  the  king  off  to  Constantinople.  But 
how  about  taking  up  arms  against  the  king,  or,  as  the  support- 
ers of  monarchy  never  tired  of  styling  him,  in  biblical  phrase, 
"  the  Lord's  anointed  ?  "  There  seemed  to  be  but  one  way 
out  of  the  difiiculty.  The  duke  must  send  and  get  the  pope's 
opinion  as  to  whether  he  might  with  a  clear  conscience  engage 
in  the  enterprises  of  the  "  Holy  League."  He  found  the  Jesuit, 
Claude  Matthieu — popidarly  known,  from  his  frequent  flittings 
between  France  and  Rome,  as  the  courier  of  the  League — not 
averse  to  the  task  of  sounding  Gregory's  sentiments.  The 
pontiff  readily  complied  with  the  Jesuit's  request  to  give  his 
opinion.  Shortly  before  Matthieu's  arrival,  in  Xovember,  1584, 


'  Compare  De  Thou,  vi.  (book  81)  441,  442. 


1585. 


THE  CONFERENCE  OF  JOINVILLE. 


301 


he  had  come  to  the  resoUition  to  declare,  by  public  sentence, 
the  King  of  Kavarre  and  all  other  heretical  princes  of  the 
blood  incapable  of  succeeding  to  the  throne  of  France.  Onl}'  one 
thing  still  delayed  him — his  prudent  counsellors,  the  cardinals, 
insisted  that  he  must  wait  until  the  "  good  Catholics  "  should 
have  gained  the  upper  hand  in  the  kingdom."  Of  course,  then, 
when  consulted  by  Matthieu,  Gregory  highly  approved  the  pro- 
posed action  of  the  League,  and,  in  answer  to  the  request  of 
the  agent,  did  not  hesitate  to  give  him  a  memorandum  of  his 
words  of  praise  and  encouragement.  Inasmuch  as  the  first  and 
principal  end  of  the  Catholic  princes,  in  whose  behalf  he  had 
been  consulted,  was  to  take  up  arms  against  the  heretics  of 
France,  his  holiness  expressly  relieved  them  of  all  scruples  of 
conscience  they  might  have  on  this  account,  and  bade  them  God 
speed."  True,  there  was  not  a  word  in  the  minute  about  tak- 
Gregory-s  can- iiig  arms  agaiust  the  king.  Gregory  had  been  too 
mlttinVhis"™"  pi'^^tleut  to  put  anything  of  the  kind  upon  paper, 
views  to  paper.  his  Oral  romarks  to  the  Jesuit  he  was  out- 

spoken. "  The  pope,"  Matthieu  reported  to  IRevers,  "  does  not 
think  it  at  all  well  that  any  attempt  be  made  on  the  king's  life  ; 
for  that  cannot  be  done  with  a  good  conscience.  Yet  if  his 
person  could  be  seized,  and  those  removed  from  about  him  wlio 
are  the  cause  of  the  ruin  of  the  kingdom,  and  if  other  men 
could  be  assigned  to  keep  him  in  check,  and  give  him  good 
counsel,  and  compel  him  to  follow  it — this  the  pope  would  ap- 
prove. For,  under  his  authority,  all  the  cities  and  provinces 
of  the  kingdom  could  be  secured,  and  everything  that  is  good 
could  be  established.     Thus  countless  evils  might  be  avoided 


'  "S'iln'eust  este  empesche  par  la  remonstrance  d'aucuns  Cardinaux,  qui 
luy  dirent,  qu'il  n'estoit  aucunement  expedient  qu'il  fist  la  snsdite  declaration, 
jusques  a  ce  que  les  Catlioliques  de  ce  Rqj'aume  fussent  les  plus  forts,  et  eus- 
sent  les  armes  en  main  pour  executer  la  sentence  du  Pape."  Deciphered 
letter  of  Claude  Matthieu  to  the  Duke  of  Nevers,  February  11,  1585,  Memoires 
de  Nevers,  i.  G55. 

'  "  Consente  e  lauda  die  lo  facianno,  e  leva  loro  ogni  scrupolo  di  con- 
scienza,  che  per  tal  conto  potessero  havere  e  instando  ch'el  regno  havera  anco 
esse  per  ben  fatto :  ma  quando  fosse  altrimente,  uou  per  cio  havevanno  a  re- 
sistere,  essendo  I'animo  loro,  come  o  detto,  di  conseguire  quello  primo  e  prin- 
cipale  fine."    Ibid.,  ubi  supra,  i.  G56. 


302 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE. 


Ch.  V. 


which  will  come  to  pass  should  the  king  continue  as  he  is  aiul  be 
so  ill-advised  as  to  take  sides  with  the  heretics  in  opposing  the 
Catholic  pi-inces.  This,  apparently,  he  intends  doing,  in  which 
case  he  will  be  followed  by  a  good  part  of  the  Catholics."'  ' 

The  Duke  of  Nevers,  however,  was  not  so  well  satisfied  by 
these  assurances  as  the  pope  evidently  expected  him  to  be. 
Three  or  four  months  later  (March,  15S5),  he  again  sought 
relief  for  his  oppressed  conscience.  He  could  not  be  at  rest,  so 
he  said,  unless  the  pontiff  shoidd  grant  him  a  bull  or  a  brief 
expressly  declaring  the  justice  of  the  proposed  course  of  the 
League.  Now,  this  was  precisely  what  Gregory  had  no  idea  of 
The  pope-s  doiug."  He  replied  that  his  verbal  assurances  were 
atTilrdute-s  quite  sufficient,  and  that  the  duke  must  content  him- 
pertinacity.  g^jf  ^^.^^^1  them.  IIc  fell  back  upon  his  judicial  char- 
acter, and  declined  appearing  to  become  a  party  in  interest. 
Above  all,  he  urged  that,  were  he  to  follow  the  duke's  sugges- 
tion, he  might  set  all  Europe  by  the  ears  ;  for  he  knew  well 
enough  the  jealous  humors  of  the  German  Protestants,  of  the 
Swiss,  of  the  Dutch,  and  even  of  the  French.  He  hinted  that 
if  ^severs  would  not  rest  satisfied  with  the  pope's  verbal  state- 
ments, it  was  a  great  pity,  but  nothing  more  could  be  done. 
He  even  went  so  far  as  to  suggest  that  the  duke's  squeamishness 
must  be  the  offspring  of  his  fears  for  his  person  and  his  posses- 
sions, or  be  the  convenient  excuse  for  his  intention  to  desert 
the  body  of  "  so  zealous  and  Catholic  princes."  '  As  to  a  trip 
which  Xevers  had  talked  of  taking  to  Italy  in  person,  Gregory 
promptly  discouraged  it  as  a  very  bad  notion,  and  not  likely  to 


'  Memoires  de  Nevers,  ubi  supra,  i.  657. 

-  Lestoile,  recording  in  his  journal  ( i.  184)  the  arrival  of  the  news  of  the 
death  of  Gregory  XIII.,  under  date  of  April  18,  1585,  states  that  this  pope  had 
never  favored  the  League,  and  that,  a  few  days  before  his  end,  he  had  de- 
clared that  the  League  should  have  no  bull  or  brief  from  him  until  he  saw 
more  clearly  into  its  designs.  It  will  be  seen  from  the  text  just  how  much  of 
truth  there  was  in  Lestoile's  representation  of  the  pontiff  s  attitude.  Sixtus 
certainly  did  not  regard  his  predecessor  in  any  other  light  than  as  a  decided 
upholder  of  the  seditious  movement  of  Guise  and  his  fellow-conspirators. 

^  It  must  be  confessed  that  Gregory's  impressions  on  this  score  were  shared 
by  many  in  France,  especially  when  Nevers  retracted  his  adhesion  to  the 
League.    See  De  Thou,  vi.  (book  81)  4G0. 


1585. 


THE  CONFERENCE  OP  JOIXVILLE. 


303 


be  productive  of  edification.  The  duke  would  do  far  better  to 
remain  in  France  and  jeopard  his  life  for  the  protection  of  the 
faith. 

For  this  somewhat  rough  treatment,  however,  Gregory  made 
amends  by  sending  a  notable  consignment  of  rosaries  blessed 
by  his  own  hand,  and  intended  for  the  special  benefit  of  the 
Consecrated  Cardinal  of  Bourbon,  by  whom  they  were  to  be  dis- 
of  aa°  tributed  among  the  Roman  Catholic  princes  and  chief 
men  of  the  League.  Evidently  the  duke  was  deemed 
an  incorrigible  grumbler  if  these  consecrated  trinkets  would  not 
pass  current  with  him  as  the  equivalent  of  an  honest  avowal  of 
sentiment  over  the  signature  of  the  pontiff  and  authenticated 
by  the  impress  of  the  seal  of  the  fisherman.' 

Precisely  at  this  juncture,  on  the  tenth  of  April,  15S5,  Greg- 
ory the  Thirteenth  died.  It  was  fitting  that  a  pope  who  had  sig- 
DeathofPope  i^^^lized  the  first  year  of  his  reign  by  an  enthusiastic 
Gregory.  appi'oval  of  the  massacrc  of  Saint  Bartholomew's  Day 
should  illustrate  the  close  of  his  pontificate  by  underhand  efforts 
to  encourage  the  rebellious  subjects  of  the  King  of  France  in 
their  traitorous  projects. 

Xevers  had  not  renounced  his  intended  visit  to  Italy,  and 
now  put  his  purpose  into  execution.  Upon  his  arrival  in  Rome 
Nevers  visits  ^6  found  Si.xtus  the  Fifth  already  seated  in  the  chair 
Rome.  vacated  by  Gregory.  A  marked  change  had  come 
over  the  relations  of  the  papacy  to  the  French  League.  The 
new  pope,  to  whom  the  very  inemoi-y  of  his  predecessor  was 
repugnant,"  had  as  little  inclination  to  pursue  Gregory's  foreign 
policy  as  to  imitate  the  laxity  of  his  domestic  administration. 
Of  this  Nevers  had  abundant  proof  in  his  fii'st  audience. 

After  graciously  welcoming  the  nobleman  with  the  compli- 
mentary exclamation,  "  Behold  an  Israelite  indeed,  in  whom  is 
no  guile ! "  Sixtus  could  scarcely  wait  to  enter  upon  a  discus- 
sion of  French  affairs.    "  I  am  convinced,"  said  he,  "  that  con- 


'  Letter  signed  "  Jacque.s  La  Rue,  alias  Martelli,"  to  the  Duke  of  Nevers, 
March  30,  1585,  with  letters  of  Matthieu  and  Cardinal  Pelleve  on  the  same 
subject,  Memoires  de  Nevers,  i.  651-654. 

'  Ranke,  History  of  the  Popes,  142. 


304 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.        Ch.  V. 


science  is  your  only  rule  of  conduct,  and  that,  in  your  connection 
witli  Cardinal  Bourbon  and  the  other  princes  of  the  Union,  you 
liave  no  resrard  for  anything;  else  than  the  glory  of  God 

Sixtus  the  ,       ,  =>  •  r     ^  1      1-  A 

Fifthcensures  and  the  preservation  ot  tiie  Catholic,  Apostolic,  and 
Roman  religion.  But,  nevertheless,  in  what  school 
did  you  learn  that  you  must  form  parties  against  the  will  of  your 
lawful  prince  ? " 

"  Most  holy  father,"  broke  in  the  astonished  Nevers,  in  the 
heat  of  excitement  rising  from  his  knees,  "  whatever  has  taken 
place  has  been  done  with  the  king's  consent." 

"  How  now  !  "  rejoined  Sixtus.  "  You  warm  up  very  fast.  I 
imagined  that  you  came  to  me  in  order  to  liearken  to  the  voice 
of  your  father,  to  take  his  advice  and  follow  it.  Instead  of 
that,  I  see  you  have  the  same  disposition  as  have  all  the  mem- 
bers of  your  association.  You  cannot  endure  correction.  You 
condemn  all  that  do  not  agree  with  you.  Believe  me !  The 
King  of  France  has  never  cordially  consented  to  your  leagues 
and  your  assumption  of  arms.  He  regards  them  as  assaults  upon 
liis  authority.  Although  constrained  to  dissemble,  through 
fear  of  greater  evils,  it  must  be  that  he  accounts  you  his  en- 
emies— enemies  more  to  be  dreaded  and  more  cruel  than  the 
Huguenots.  I  fear  me  that  matters  will  be  pressed  so  far, 
that  at  length  the  King  of  France,  Catholic  though  he  be,  will 
be  constrained  to  appeal  to  the  heretics  for  aid  that  he  may  rid 
himself  of  the  tyranny  of  the  Catholics." 

The  pope  waxed  hot  as  he  thus  pursued  the  theme.  "  O 
Gregory  the  Thirteenth  !  "  he  exclaimed  again  and  again.  "  O 
Gregory  the  Thirteenth !  What  desolation  of  all  Christendom 
He  bitterly  by  firc  and  sword  have  you  occasioned  by  approv- 
predlcessort  i^g  and  fomenting  the  League  and  the  Union  of  the 
course.  Frcuch  CathoHcs !  "  '  It  was  not  the  only  time  that 
Sixtus  gave  vent  to  his  resentment  against  the  guilty  authors 
of  the  conspiracy  which  had  involved  France  in  bloodshed  and 

'  "  De  temps  en  temps  il  s'escrioit  centre  Gregoire  XIII.,  et  contre  le  cardinal 
de  Cosme,  et  leur  reproclioit  d' avoir  mis  le  feu  et  le  sang  dans  toute  la  Clires- 
tiente,"  etc.  Nevers  to  Cardinal  Bourbon,  Rome,  July  31,  1585,  Memoires 
de  Nevers,  i.  G67.  M.  de  Gomberville  gives  the  exclamation  of  Sixtus  in  this 
form:  "  S'ecria  plusieurs  fois,  '  O  Gregoire  XIII !  Qu'en  voulant  fairedubien, 


1585. 


POPE  SIXTUS  AND  THE  LEAGUE. 


305 


laid  waste  lier  fair  towns  and  villages.  He  held  Gregory,  above 
all  others,  responsible  before  the  bar  of  God,  and  he  gave  out  no 
obscure  hints  of  his  belief  that  the  late  occupant  of  Saint  Peter's 
seat  might  at  that  moment  be  suffering  the  torments  of  another 
world  for  his  complicity  in  the  great  crime  that  had  been  per- 
petrated. "  I  bear  the  authors  of  the  League  great  ill-will,"  he 
said,  a  year  later ;  "  and  I  do  not  think  that  God  will  ever  for- 
give them.  Possibly  the  soul  of  Pope  Gregory  might  have 
something  to  tell  us  about  this." ' 

The  fact  was  that  the  shrewd  pontiff  saw  through  the  flimsy 
disguise  of  the  Leaguers,  and  detected  their  real  motives.  He 
maintained  that  there  had  never  been  a  more  pernicious  con- 
spiracy. He  was  convinced  that  not  a  man  among  all  that  cried 
out  so  loudly  against  the  heretics  had  the  glory  of 

Ambition  the  i,  .  ,.  •  ^         i  - 

motwej)ower  Grod  and  the  promotion  of  the  true  laith  as  the  smcere 
'  object  of  his  undertakings.  "  Each  one  of  them,"  he 
said,  "  wishes  to  become  not  a  better  Christian,  but  a  greater 
lord.  A  hundred  ambitious  men  would  like  to  be  kings,  and, 
since  they  cannot  be  kings  of  the  whole  of  a  mighty  state  like 
France,  they  try,  at  least,  to  rend  it  in  pieces  and  find  a  frag- 
ment on  which  they  may  settle  and  make  themselves  mimic 
sovereigns."  "  Poor  France  !  "  Sixtus  used  to  say,  "  everybody 
has  designs  upon  her ;  everybody  racks  himself  to  secure  her 
ruin.  But  I  love  France.  The  Holy  See  owes  to  her  its  splen- 
dor and  defence,  and  the  popes  cannot  be  too  watchful  in  see- 
ing to  it  that  the  first  crown  of  Christendom  shall  remain  en- 
tire upon  the  head  of  those  whom  God  has  chosen  to  wear  it." 
"  Tell  Cardinal  Bourbon,"  he  said,  on  one  occasion,  "  that  he 
ought  to  despise  distinctions  which  it  is  beyond  his  power  to 
enjoy,  since  he  has  reached  an  age  at  which,  if  he  already  pos- 
sessed them,  he  should  think  of  resigning  them  to  others.  Let 


vous  avez  fait  du  mal !  Vostre  ame  respond  aujourd'huy  devant  le  trosne  de 
Dieu,  de  la  desolation  de  la  France,  et  de  I'efFusion  de  tout  le  sang  qui  y  sera 
repandu.'  "    Ibid.,  i.  662. 

'  "  J'en  veux  grand  mal  aux  autheurs,  et  je  ne  pense  pas  que  Dieu  leur  par- 
doiine  jamais.  Peut-estre  que  I'ame  du  pape  Gregoire  en  s^auroit  bien  que 
dire."  Pisani,  French  ambassador  at  Rome,  to  Henry  UI.,  September  11. 
1580,  ibid.,  i.  750. 

Vol.  I.— 20 


306 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.        Ch.  V. 


him  remember  tliat  lie  is  a  bishop,  and  that  he  will  have  to  give 
an  accoimt  before  a  judgment  seat  where  a  misimprovement 
of  opportunities  will  never  pass  for  a  right  use  of  them." ' 

Had  the  conspirators  of  Joinville  been  able  to  shroud  their 
dark  proceedings  in  secrecy  so  profound  as  to  escape  the  no- 
tice of  the  king  and  his  agents  in  every  part  of  the  realm,  the 
attitude  assumed  by  the  Spanish  ambassador  on  the  occasion  of 
the  advent  of  the  Dutch  envoys  might  have  given  the  alarm  to 
a  less  suspicious  prince. 

It  must  be  confessed  that  rarely  have  bearers  of  costly  and 
precious  gifts  been  so  shabbily  treated  as  were  the  unlucky 
Unworthy  dcputics  of  the  states  bringing  to  Henry  the  prof- 
the'^D^iteh"*  fer  of  the  sovereignty  of  some  of  the  fairest  prov- 
envoys.  inces  of  Europc.  True,  they  were  not,  like  their 
countrymen,  when  sent  on  a  similar  mission,  immediately  af- 
ter the  Duke  of  Anjou's  death,  peremptorily  forbidden  by  the 
queen  mother  from  proceeding  to  the  capital,  and  detained  at 
Eouen  for  an  entire  month,  almost  in  the  guise  of  prisoners, 
before  the  king  deigned  to  give  them  a  polite  but  none  the 
less  positive  refusal.  More  fortunate  than  their  predecessors 
in  this  ungracious  work.  Chancellor  Leoninus  and  his  grave 
companions  were  allowed,  after  landing  at  Boulogne-sur-mer, 
ultimately  to  go  up  to  Paris,  where  no  expense  was  spared  to 
do  them  honor.  Yet,  though  they  set  foot  in  France  on  the 
third  day  of  January,  it  was  not  until  more  than  six  weeks 
had  elapsed  that,  on  Wednesday,  the  thirteenth  of  February, 
they  were  admitted  into  the  royal  presence  in  the  Louvre.  In- 
credible as  such  puerile  indecision  may  appear  to  us,  the  king 
could  not  make  up  his  mind  exactly  how  to  act  in  the  premises. 
For  this  reason  it  was  that  when  the  patient  envoys  had  gotten 
over  five-sixths  of  their  way,  and  hoped  within  a  few  hours  to 
see  the  towers  of  jS^otre  Dame  de  Paris,  they  were  stopped  by 
command  of  the  monarch  at  the  city  of  Senlis.  Thence  they 
were  subsequently  brought  to  the  capital  by  a  secret  royal  ordei\ 


'  Letter  of  Nevers  to  Cardinal  Bourbon,  without  date,  Memoires  de  Nevers, 
i.  673,  674.  The  duke  himself  gave  to  the  historian  De  Thou  some  account  of 
his  negotiations  with  the  pope.    Histoire  universelle,  vi.  (book  81)  460,  461. 


1585. 


SOVEREIGNTY  OP  THE  NETHERLANDS. 


307 


But  no  secret  could  be  so  well  kept  at  the  court  of  Henry 
the  Third  as  not  instantly  to  be  reported  to  Bernardino  de 
Mendoza.    The  irascible  ambassador  of  Philip  at  once  took 
fire,  and  made  bold  to  protest  against  the  reception  of 

Mendoza  tries  rri..  f.  i,. 

to  prevent     the  euvovs.    iwico,  it  was  reported,  he  applied  for 

them  from  se-  , .   "  ,         .  it       i  i  . 

curing  an  au-  an  audiencc,  and  twice  lienry  declined  to  see  him. 

A  third  request,  accompanied  by  a  judicious  expen- 
diture of  Spanish  ducats  upon  members  of  the  royal  council, 
was  successful.'  What  was  said  and  done  on  this  occasion 
only  the  king  and  the  ambassador  knew,  for  no  others  were 
present.  It  is  not  strange,  therefore,  that  the  accounts  of  the 
interview  given  by  foreign  diplomatists  to  their  royal  masters, 
and  accepted  by  contemporary  historians  generally  well  in- 
formed, differ  materially  from  the  written  statement  of  one  of 
the  parties  to  the  conversation,  found  in  a  document  to  which 
a  former  age  had  no  means  of  access. 

It  was  generally  reported  that  Mendoza  was  outspoken,  even 
to  insolence.  He  demanded,  forsooth,  that  Henry  should  grant 
His  reported  abandoned  of  God,  as  well  as  of  their 

insolence.  fellows,  proscribed  by  the  Holy  Inquisition,  and 
with  nothing  to  hope  for  from  their  lawful  prince.  He  pro- 
fessed to  feel  no  apprehension  lest  Henry  should  be  so  ill 
advised  as  to  listen  to  the  unjust  propositions  of  the  iSetlier- 
landers,  and  stated  that,  if  he  thus  protested,  it  was  only  be- 
cause of  his  official  position  and  because  the  interests  of  all  the 
crowned  heads  of  Christendom  were  involved  in  the  matter. 
The  King  of  France,  said  Mendoza,  ought  not  to  give  such 
monsters  an  asylum  within  his  dominions,  but  forthwith  expel 
them  from  the  country  without  deigning  to  give  them  an  audi- 
ence ;  just  as  the  King  of  Spain  had  uniformly  shut  his  ears 
to  every  appeal  addressed  to  him  by  the  disloyal  subjects  of  his 
vei-y  Christian  majesty.  He  closed  by  somewhat  jauntily  in- 
forming Henry  that,  if  he  had  thus  spoken,  it  was  not  because 


'  Fronde,  xii.  91,  who,  basing  his  account  upon  the  despatches  of  Sir  Ed- 
ward Stafford,  English  ambassador  at  Paris,  notices  that  Mendoza  went  so  far 
as  to  demand  his  passports,  and  that  Catharine  de'  Medici  recommended  that 
they  sliould  be  given  to  liim. 


308 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE. 


Cu.  V. 


he  had  any  fear  that  the  King  of  France  would  take  the  rebel- 
lious Dutch  under  his  protection.  Indeed,  should  any  person 
be  found  so  lost  to  conscience  and  honor  as  to  venture  upon 
such  a  course,  he  would  soon  discover  that,  instead  of  attack- 
ing, he  must  take  measures  for  self-defence  ;  for  he  would 
learn,  at  his  own  cost,  that  time  was  not  always  left  for  repent- 
ance over  foolhardy  undertakings,  especially  when  one  had  to 
do  with  so  powerful  and  fortunate  a  monarch  as  the  King  of 
Spain,  whom  no  one  had  thus  far  insulted  with  impunity. 

Henry  the  Third  could  on  occasion  play  the  magnanimous 
prince.  The  reply  to  Mendoza,  with  which  he  has  been  tradition- 
ally credited,  was  worthy  of  a  better  man  than  the 

Magnanimous  .  i  i  •  •  i        i  i  -it 

reply  ascribed  effeminate  weakling  with  whom  the  \  alois  name  was 

to  the  king.  , 

to  become  extinct.  Briefly,  bat  forcibly,  even  angrily, 
we  are  told,  he  reminded  the  haughty  Castilian  that  the  Dutch 
were  not  obstinate  rebels  against  lawful  authority,  but  oppressed 
subjects  whose  just  complaints  of  maltreatment  had  not  been 
listened  to,  and  who  were  condemned  to  suffer  the  evils  of  war 
because  of  the  malignity  of  certain  persons  who  preferred  com- 
motion to  peace.  He  declared  his  intention  to  grant  the  envoys 
an  audience,  and  justified  the  act  by  the  interest  the  French 
had  always  felt  in  a  country  so  near  and  so  closely  allied  to 
their  own.  Xo  one,  he  said,  ought  to  mistake  for  an  insult 
what  was  in  reality  a  simple  deed  of  generosity.  France  had 
always  enjoyed  the  reputation,  above  all  other  nations,  of  ex- 
tending a  kindly  welcome  to  those  who  sought  to  escape  from 
the  yoke  of  unjust  domination.  As  for  himself,  he  would  take 
good  care  that  his  kingdcfm  should  not  see  its  most  glorious 
distinction  obscured  by  ceasing  to  be  the  refuge  of  the  un- 
fortunate. Accordingly,  he  was  happy  to  tell  him  and  all  the 
world,  that  a  king  of  France  does  not  know  what  it  is  to 
tremble  ;  and  that  neither  threats  nor  dangers  can  prevent  him 
from  exhibiting  toward  afflicted  princes  and  peoples  having 
recourse  to  his  protection,  even  to  his  latest  breath,  the  same 
generosity  that  earned  such  glory  for  his  ancestors.' 


'  De  Thou,  vi.  (book  81)  447,  448.  Walsingham  in  a  letter  to  Davison, 
January  ij,  1585,  based  on  Stafford's  report,  gives  a  very  similar  account  of 


1585. 


SOVEREIGNTY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS. 


3r»9 


It  is  an  amazing  pity  that  most  of  these  good,  bhmt  words 
seem  only  to  have  existed  in  the  imagination  of  the  writers  or 
their  informants.    The  letters  of  Henry  himself  to 
ncss  of  his    his  ambassador  in  Spain,which  an  eminent  historian  of 
reaispeech.  i       been  the  first  to  unearth,  strip  the 

monarch  of  all  this  borrowed  finery.  They  show  that  Mendoza 
was,  indeed,  m-gent  in  his  demands,  but  scarcely  insolent  in  de- 
meanor ;  while  Henry  would  seem  to  have  made  not  the  slightest 
allusion  to  any  grand  defence  of  France  as  the  refuge  of  op- 
pressed innocence.  What  he  did  say  was,  that  he  Nvas  determined 
to  hear  the  Dutch  envoys,  because  he  could  not  abandon  his 
mother,Catharine  de' Medici,  in  her  pretensions  upon  the  crown 
of  Portugal,  not  only  for  the  filial  obedience  which  he  owed  her, 
but  because  he  was  her  only  heir!  That  Henry  said  anything 
more  than  what  he  has  himself  recorded,  anything  approaching 
the  disinterested  sentiments  ascribed  to  him  by  others,  is  in 
the  highest  degree  improbable.  And  so  we  get  at  the  true  ex- 
planation of  the  whole  matter — both  the  determination  of  the 
king  and  his  mother  that  the  envoys  from  the  Netherlands 
should  be  heard,  and  their  almost  incredible  neglect  to  profit 
by  the  offer  the  envoys  brought.  Insincerity  reigned  unbroken 
from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the  transaction. 

Insincerity  of  '-^  i       •        t      t         i  ^  r 

the  king  and  JNeitlier  lieury  nor  Catharine  had  a  thought  or  com- 

queen  mother.  .         -         ,  i         i      n  i  i  i 

passion  tor  the  country  that  had  so  long  been  the 
theatre  of  war  and  carnage,  and  that  now  stretched  out  its  arms 
toward  France  for  relief  and  protection.  They  only  hoped,  by 
judiciously  encouraging  its  advances,  to  compel  Philip  the 
Second  to  make  some  large  pecuniary  offer  for  the  renunciation 
of  Catharine's  chimerical  claim  upon  the  throne  of  Portugal. 
It  was  pitiful,  but  not  strange,  that  the  wretched  monarch 

Mendoza's  reception  :  "  He  went  presently  to  court  and  dealt  very  passionately 
with  the  king  and  queen  motlier  to  deny  them  audience,  who  being  greatly 
offended  with  his  presumptuous  and  malapert  manner  of  proceeding,  the  king 
did  in  choler  and  with  some  sharp  speeches,  let  him  plainly  understand  that 
he  was  an  absolute  king,  bound  to  yield  account  of  his  doings  to  no  man,  and 
that  it  was  lawful  for  him  to  give  access  to  any  man  witliin  his  own  realm. 
The  queen  mother  answered  him  likewise  very  roundly,  whereupon  he  de- 
parted for  the  time,  very  much  discontented."  Quoted  in  Motley,  United 
Netherlands,  i.  100.  '  Ibid.,  i.  100-100, 


310 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OP  NAVARRE.        Ch.  V. 


who,  in  a  transaction  calling  for  manliness  and  magnanimity, 
liad  in  reality  displayed  none  but  the  most  sordid  motives  and 
Failure  of  the  ^'^^  lowcst  aspirations,  should  have  made  such  an  ex- 
embassy.  hibitiou  of  liimself  to  the  Dutch  deputies,  when  at 
length  they  were  brought  to  the  Louvre,  as  disgusted  everyone 
not  accustomed  to  tlie  mad  fashions  of  the  Fi-ench  court — dressed 
with  elaborate  care  and  an  attention  to  details  that  might  have 
done  credit  to  a  professional  beauty ;  with  hair  as  daintily 
curled  and  heavily  perfumed  as  that  of  a  maid  of  honor  of 
Queen  Louise  ;  his  neck  encircled  with  the  famous  ruff  that  gave 
the  wearer's  head  the  appearance  of  the  head  of  Saint  John 
Baptist  on  the  charger  ;  and  M'ith  a  sash  thrown  over  his 
shoulders,  from  which  hung  a  basket  full  of  diminutive  puppies. 
It  was  still  more  pitiful  that,  after  keeping  the  envoys  of  the 
Netherlands  a  month  longer  in  Paris,  Ilenrj'  sent  them  home 
with  a  definite  refusal  of  their  magnificent  gift.'  France  had 
The  loss  to  missed  au  accession  to  her  territory  that  would  have 
France.  given  her  the  "  natural  boundaries  "  for  which,  after 
three  centuries,  she  still  longs,  but  with  little  prospect  of  ever  at- 
taining. Better  than  that  accession  of  domain  would  have  been 
the  extension  and  perpetuation  of  religious  liberty,  which  could 
not  have  failed  to  result  from  the  union  of  the  Low  Countries 
to  France,  even  had  no  actual  incorporation  of  lands  ensued. 
With  Holland  under  the  protection  of  the  French  king,  a  pro- 
scription of  the  Huguenots  would  have  been  impossible.  Civil 
wars  might,  indeed,  again  have  broken  out,  but  they  must  have 
been  conflicts  in  which  all  loyal  Frenchmen  would  be  found 
fighting  for  the  integrity  of  a  magnificent  realm — conflicts  ne- 
cessarily of  short  duration,  because  honor,  national  pride,  and 
the  prospect  of  distinction  would  all  be  enlisted  on  the  side  of 
the  legitimate  monarch. 


•  De  Thou,  vi.  (book  81)  475.  Compare  Motley,  United  Netherlands,  i.  98, 
99,  and  Froude,  xii.  91,  etc.,  tlie  latter  of  whom  finds  Queen  Elizabeth  and 
the  Dutch  respectively  responsible  for  counselling  the  proffer  and  for  offering 
less  than  that  absolute  sovereignty  which  Henry  the  Third  and  Catharine  de' 
Medici  presumably  would  have  accepted.  His  view  appears  incorrect  in  the 
light  of  the  correspondence  which  Motley  has  published,  and  to  which  refer- 
ence has  already  been  made  in  the  text. 


1585. 


SOVEREIGNTY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS. 


311 


Henry  the  Third  had  never  seriously  entertained  the  thought 
of  accepting  the  sovereignty  of  the  Low  Countries.  AVith  his 
constitutional  sluggishness  and  a  love  of  repose  that  had  become 
with  hira  a  second  nature,  he  instinctively  shrank  from  a  step 
immediately  involving  him  in  a  war  with  the  foremost  prince  of 
Christendom.  That  M'ar  might  indeed  be  waged  in  the  name 
of  the  queen  mother  as  mistress  of  Cambray,  bequeathed  to  her 
by  the  will  of  its  late  owner,  the  Duke  of  Alencjon ;  none  the 
less  would  it  require  for  its  successful  prosecution  all  the  re- 
sources of  the  Yery  Christian  King  himself.  Besides,  to  render 
assistance  to  those  that  had  revolted  against  their  lord  para- 
mount, with  however  good  excuse,  might  be  esteemed  a  danger- 
ous thing  for  a  king  who  certainly  had  given  to  his  own  subjects 
sufficient  reason  for  dissatisfaction.  "Worst  of  all,  the  monarch 
who  prided  himself  on  his  immaculate  orthodoxy,  the  hero  of 
Jarnac  and  Moncontour,  the  idol  of  the  Roman  Catholic  party 
at  the  time  of  the  massacre  of  Saint  Bartholomew's  Day,  conld 
not,  without  infinite  reluctance,  bring  himself  to  take  up  arms 
in  behalf  of  Dutch  heretics,  who  held  precisely  the  sentiments 
of  the  Huguenots  of  his  own  dominions — the  Huguenots  whom 
he  hated  cordially,  and  whose  very  existence  it  was  notorious 
that  he  tolerated  only  by  constraint.' 

The  advent  of  the  envoys  from  the  Netherlands  was  not  the 
sole  incident  calculated  to  alarm  Philip  of  Spain,  and  to  serve 
Queen  Eliza-  ^he  purposo  of  the  authors  of  the  League  by  arousing 
EaH  oruerby  ^  popular  fear  of  the  approaching  triumph  of  Prote?- 
toFrance.  tantism  in  France.  A  magnificent  embassy  arrived  in 
France  about  the  same  time,  sent  by  Queen  Elizabeth  to  invest 
Henry  with  the  insignia  of  the  Order  of  the  Garter  which  she 
had  seen  fit  to  confer  upon  him.  The  deputation  was  headed  by 
the  Earl  of  Derby,"  who  was  met  on  his  approach  to  Paris  with 


'  Busbecq  to  the  emperor,  January  25,  1585,  Epistolse,  fol.  83.  If  anyone 
was  in  earnest,  this  writer  believed  it  was  Catharine  de'  Medici :  "  Certum 
est  regem  non  libenter  in  lianc  causam  descendere  ;  atque  etiam  desiderare 
quaedam  in  mandatis  Belgarum.  Sed  mater  urget,  cujus  in  nomen  Hispaniim 
infinitum  est  odium."    Ibid.  (March  C,  1585),  fol.  86. 

'■  It  is  difficult  to  recognize  Lord  Derby's  name  under  the  strange  Latin  dis- 
guise of  "Comiti  de  Herbei"  with  which  Busbecq  invests  it,  or  the  still  mon 


312 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE. 


Ch.  V. 


unsurpassed  pomp.  A  house  was  assigned  to  liim,  daring  liis 
stay,  in  close  proximity  to  the  Louvre,  and  he  and  his  suite  were 
provided  for  in  the  most  hixurious  manner,  at  an  expense,  it 
was  said,  of  two  hundred  crowns  a  day.  A  single  masquerade 
in  his  honor  cost  the  king  not  less  than  thirty  thousand  crowns. 
On  the  appointed  day  for  the  solemn  reception  of  the  decoration, 
the  twenty-eighth  of  February,  the  king  and  his  court  attended 
the  great  shrine  of  Saint  Augustine,  where  vespers  were  chanted. 
Every  member  of  the  Order  of  the  Holy  Ghost  was  invited. 
So  also  were  the  foreign  ambassadors,  among  whom,  much  to 
Mendoza's  disgust,  were  all  the  envoys  from  the  ^Netherlands.' 
To  the  astonishment  of  all  (except  possibly  those  familiar  with 
the  singular  faculty  which  the  Papal  See  and  its  representatives 
has  always  displayed  for  adapting  themselves  to  circumstances) 
the  nuncio  graced  the  grand  ceremonial  with  his  presence,  not 
seeming  to  think  that  there  was  any  incongruity  in  his  partici- 
pation in  a  celebration  intended  to  lend  dignity  to  the  gift  of 
the  excommunicate  queen  of  England,  the  princess  with  whom 
his  pontifical  master  had  forbidden  all  intercourse  on  pain  of 
incurring  the  censures  of  the  church,  the  Protestant  Jezebel  for 
whose  assassination  plots  were  daily  laid.'' 

Xone  the  less,  however,  on  account  of  the  nuncio's  com- 
plaisance, did  the  Leaguers  take  occasion  from  the  honors  paid 
to  the  ambassador  of  Queen  Elizabeth  to  malign  Henry  of 
Yalois.  The  respect  shown  to  the  English  envoy,  said  they, 
proves  that  the  king  is  an  abetter  of  heresy.  Under  him  or 
Reported  atro-  lender  his  succBssor,  should  the  Protestant  Henry  of 
Engush^per-  J^avarrc  be  permitted  to  mount  the  throne,  the  old 
secutions.  I'eligion  will  be  driven  to  the  wall  and  the  new  errors 
of  Luther  and  Calvin  will  take  its  place.  Then  will  the  good 
Catholics  be  forced  to  experience  in  their  own  persons  all  those 
horrible  persecutions  to  which  the  good  Catholics  of  England 
have  been  subjected  within  our  own  times,  and  at  the  hands  of 
the  very  queen  whose  ambassadors  the  king  has  so  magnificently 

remarkable  form  "le  comte  Herbert"  of  bis  French  translator.  Cimber  et 
Danjou,  Archives  curieuses,  x.  125. 

'  Busbecq  to  the  emperor,  March  6,  1585,  Epistolae,  fol.  85. 

'■  Letter  of  Busini,  March  5,  1585,  Negociations  avec  la  Toscane,  iv.  548,  etc. 


1585. 


SOVEREIGNTY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS. 


313 


welcomed,  at  whose  hands  he  has  been  proud  to  receive  the 
Order  of  the  Garter.  "What  those  "horrible  persecutions" 
were,  there  was  an  attempt  to  show  in  a  pamphlet  that  shortly 
saw  the  light,  emanating  from  the  pen  of  a  fiery  lawyer,  one 
Louis  d'Orleans,  whom  we  find  among  the  originators  of  the 
League  in  Paris,  and  purporting  to  be  a  note  of  warning  sounded 
by  the  English  Catholics  to  their  brethren  across  the  channel.' 
The  production  was  a  dry  and  tedious  one.  Its  falsehoods  were 
refuted  in  an  answer  that  presently  appeared,  composed  by  Du- 
plessis  Mornay,  a  master  of  dialectics  and  a  vigorous  and  skilful 
writer  as  well  in  French  as  in  Latin. But  it  was  more  difficult 
to  remove  from  the  minds  of  the  Parisian  populace  the  im- 
pression produced  by  prints  and  paintings  representing  the 
atrocities  inflicted  by  order  of  Queen  Elizabeth  upon  the  bod- 
ies of  imoffending  priests  and  "religious"  of  both  sexes.  !No 
sooner  had  the  rude  placards  been  affixed  to  the  walls  of  some 
house  in  the  capital,  than  a  Leaguer  was  ready  to  step  forward, 
rod  in  hand,  and  point  out  to  the  gaping  and  horrified  crowd 
that  pressed  about  him  eveiy  actor  and  every  harrowing  detail 
of  the  picture.' 

A  war  of  manifestoes  and  declai'ations  ushered  in,  as  usual, 
the  more  serious  war  of  arms.  First,  the  king  hurled  at  the 
conspirators  a  fresh  edict,  in  the  vain  expectation  by 
edtoagainst  sucli  a  missile  to  reduce  the  battei-ies  which,  too  late, 
March  28,'  he  discovercd  had  been  directed  against  him.  Again 
his  majesty  sought  to  make  capital  of  the  marvellous 
pains  at  which,  as  he  alleged,  he  and  his  highly  honored  mother 
had  been,  to  restore  quiet  to  his  realm,  and  dwelt  upon  the  re- 


'  "  Advertissement  des  Catlioliques  Anglois  aux  Francois  Catholiques  du 
danger  ou  ils  sont  de  perdre  leur  religion,  et  d'experimenter,  comma  en  Angle- 
terre,  la  cruaute  des  ministress,  s'ils  re(^oyvent  a  la  couronne  un  Roy  qui  soit 
Heretique,  1586."  Reprinted  in  Cimber  et  Danjou,  Archives  curieuses,  xi. 
111-202.    Well  styled  by  De  Thou,  "  un  long  et  ennuyeux  discours." 

^  Duplessis  Mornay's  reply,  "  Lettre  d'un  gentilhomme  CatholiqTie  Franc^'ois 
contenant  breve  Response  aux  calomnies  d'un  certain  pretendu  Anglois,  '  may 
be  read  in  the  Memoires  de  la  Ligue,  i.  454-493,  in  the  Memoires  de  Duplessis 
Mornay,  iii.  335,  etc.,  and  in  Cimber  et  Danjou,  xi.  203,  etc. 

De  Thou,  vi.  (book  81)  443,  444,  who  himself  had  seen  some  of  these 
works  of  art. 


314 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.        Cu.  V. 


forms  he  had  introduced  with  the  view  of  lightening  the  bur- 
dens under  wliich  the  people  groaned.  lie  emphasized,  in  par- 
ticular, the  fact  that  he  had,  this  very  year,  taken  advantage  of 
the  peaceful  condition  of  France  to  relieve  his  subjects  of  taxes 
amounting  in  all  to  seven  hundred  thousand  livres,  besides  re- 
pealing sundry  ordinances  of  which  he  had  discovered  the  per- 
nicious results.  Notwithstanding  this,  certain  persons  envious 
of  the  public  tranquillity  had  set  themselves  about  raising  troops, 
ostensibly  for  the  king's  service,  but  in  reality  to  foment  discord. 
Against  these  disturbers  of  the  peace  the  king  commanded  his 
faithful  servants  to  proceed  in  a  summary  manner,  by  ringing 
the  tocsin  to  call  the  well-affected  together,  and  by  cutting  iu 
pieces  all  that  might  be  so  bold  as  to  venture  upon  resistance." 

It  was  but  three  days  later  that  the  secret  compact  of  Join- 
ville  bore  fruit  in  an  open  declaration  of  hostilities  on  the 
part  of  the  League.  The  affairs  of  Philip  would  admit  of 
no  delay ;  the  success  of  the  Prince  of  Parma's  siege  of  Ant- 
werp depended  upon  the  promptness  of  the  diversion  made  in 
his  favor  by  Spanish-minded  Frenchmen.  The  docmnent  bore 
for  its  title  the  words :  "  Declaration  of  the  causes  that  have 
moved  my  lord  the  Cardinal  of  Bourbon  and  the  Catholic 
princes,  peers,  prelates,  lords,  cities,  and  communities  of  this 
kingdom  of  France  to  oppose  those  who  are  seeking  by  all 
means  to  subvert  the  Catholic  religion  and  the  entire  state."  " 

For  four-and-twenty  years  has  France  been  plagued  with  a 
sedition  aiming  to  subvert  the  religion  of  our  forefathers — 
strongest  bond  of  the  state.    So  wrote  a  pen  more 

The  declarfi- 

tion  of  caidi-  skilful  than  that  of  the  lumpish  prelate  whose  not 

nal  Bourbon  -i      i      i  i  i 

and  the       unwillmg  liaud  subscribed  the  treasonable  paper. 

The  remedies  applied,  instead  of  curing,  have  only 
rendered  the  evil  more  formidable,  while  the  peace  secured  has 
been  only  a  name,  which  left  undisturbed  those  alone  that  were 

'  Edict  of  Henry  III.,  Paris,  March  28,  1585,  De  Tliou,  vi.  (book  81)  451  ; 
text  in  Memoires  de  la  Ligue,  i.  70,  71. 

-  The  declaration  bears  date  of  Peronne,  March  31,  1585.  Text  in  Memoires 
de  Nevers,  i.  641-646 ;  Memoires  de  la  Ligue,  i.  61-69  ;  Cimber  et  Danjou, 
Archives  curieiises,  xi.  7-19.  See  also  Recueil  des  choses  mJmorables,  607- 
609 ;  Lestoile,  183,  183 ;  De  Thou,  vi.  454,  etc. 


1585. 


THE  DECLARATION  OP  PERONNE. 


315 


causes  of  trouble.  Despite  the  prayers  of  good  men,  there  is 
now  the  prospect  that  the  king  will  die  childless.  Since  the 
death  of  the  duke,  his  brother,  the  plans  of  those  who  have  ever 
persecuted  the  Catholic  Church  have  rapidly  matured  ;  witness 
their  great  preparations  within  the  kingdom,  and  their  levies 
outside  of  it,  and  their  retention  of  the  cities  which  they  were  in 
duty  bound  long  since  to  restore  to  the  king.  Evidently  they 
intend  to  overthrow  the  Catholic  religion,  in  order  to  enrich 
themselves  with  the  patrimony  of  the  church,  thus  following 
the  example  set  them  in  England.  Moreover,  certain  persons, 
insinuating  themselves  into  the  confidence  of  the  sovereign 
(whose  majesty  always  has  been  and  always  will  be  sacred  to 
us),  have  possessed  themselves  of  his  authority,  to  the  extent  of 
gaining  sole  access  to  his  person  and  distancing  not  only  the 
highest  princes  and  nobles,  but  even  those  nearest  of  kin  to 
him.  They  have  engrossed  the  control  of  affairs.  Governors' 
of  provinces,  captains  in  charge  of  strong  places,  and  others, 
have  been  constrained  to  part  with  their  honorable  trusts,  con- 
trary to  their  desire,  in  exchange  for  a  sum  of  money  paid  to 
them  ;  the  novel  example  being  thus  set  of  purchasing  back 
with  silver  the  distinctions  originally  conferred  as  rewards  of 
virtue.  Meantime,  the  diversion  of  the  public  i"evenues  to 
these  favorites  has  inflicted  intolerable  burdens.  The  hopes 
raised  by  the  convocation  of  the  states  general  of  Blois  have 
been  frustrated  by  the  bad  advice  of  certain  persons  who,  feign- 
ing to  be  good  political  counsellors,  were  really  possessed  of 
evil  intentions  respecting  the  service  of  God  and  the  good  of 
the  state  ;  for  they  persuaded  the  king  to  renounce  his  holy  and 
very  useful  determination,  adopted  at  the  request  of  all  three 
orders,  to  reunite  his  subjects  in  one  single  Catholic,  Apostolic,  ^ 
and  Roman  religion — a  project  which  would,  at  that  time,  have 
been  carried  into  effect  without  peril  and  almost  without  re- 
sistance. In  place  of  which  they  have  convinced  his  majesty 
that  he  must  weaken  and  diminish  the  authority  of  those  Cath- 
olic princes  and  lords  who  have  often  jeoparded  life  under  his 
banner,  fighting  in  defence  of  the  faith  and  earning  a  claim  to 
honor  and  not  suspicion.  So  far  have  these  abuses  gone  that 
every  estate  of  the  kingdom  is  well-nigh  overwhelmed :  tlie 


31G 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.        Ch.  V. 


clergy  is  crushed  by  tithes  and  extraordinary  subventions,  the 
nobles  are  degraded,  enslaved,  and  reduced  to  villanage,  and  the 
cities,  the  royal  officers,  and  the  common  people  are  so  hard 
pressed  by  the  frequency  of  fresh  impositions,  known  as  "  in- 
ventions," that  there  no  longer  remains  anything  to  be  invented, 
always  excepting  the  means  of  applying  a  good  remedy. 

For  these  reasons,  pursues  the  declaration,  we,  Charles  of 
Bourbon,  "  first  prince  of  the  blood,"  and  other  princes,  car- 
dinals, governors,  cities,  etc.,  constituting  the  best  and  soundest 
part  of  the  realm  of  France,  have  sworn  and  solemnly  promised 
to  take  up  arms  for  the  restoration  of  the  Holy  Church  of  God 
to  its  pristine  dignity,  for  the  maintenance  of  the  nobility  in  its 
rights,  and  for  the  relief  of  the  people ;  to  which  end,  all  new 
impositions  shall  be  abolished,  all  increased  taxes  reduced  to 
the  standard  of  the  times  of  Chai'les  the  Ninth ;  parliaments 
shall  once  more  be  made  sovereiorn,  (governors  be  maintained  in 
ofiice,  the  moneys  raised  from  the  people  be  employed  for  the 
defence  of  the  kingdom  and  for  the  other  purposes  for  which 
they  were  destined  ;  while  the  states  general  shall  henceforth  be 
convened  freely  and  without  intrigue,  so  often  as  the  needs  of 
the  realm  require,  and  with  liberty  extended  to  all  men  to  offer 
their  complaints. 

The  accustomed  protestations  follow.  The  cardinal  and  his 
associates  profess  their  perfect  readiness  to  shed  the  last  drop 
of  their  blood  in  defence  of  the  king,  and  promise  to  disarm  so 
soon  as  his  majesty  shall  be  pleased  to  put  an  end  to  the  peril 
threatening  the  ruin  of  God's  service  and  of  so  many  good 
people.  Although  they  might  with  propriety  call  upon  Henry 
to  name  his  successor,  they  abstain  from  so  doing,  "  for  fear," 
say  they,  "  lest  the  wicked  should  take  occasion  from  this  to 
calumniate  our  actions,  as  if  we.  Cardinal  of  Bourbon,  in  our 
old  age,  were  thinking  of  another  kingdom  than  that  whose  en- 
joyment is  better  assured,  more  desirable,  and  of  longer  dura- 
tion." The  queen  mother  is  entreated  to  use  her  influence  with 
her  son,  and  all  nobles  and  cities  are  besought  to  prevent  the 
enemy  from  gaining  an  advantage  by  seizing  important  places. 
It  is  only  against  armed  forces,  adds  the  declaration,  that  we  in- 
tend hostilities,  and  we  assure  everybody  that  our  holy  and  just 


1585. 


THE  DECLARATION  OF  PERONNE. 


317 


armies  will  harass  and  oppress  no  one,  either  in  their  passage 
or  in  their  abode  in  any  place  whatsoever,  but  will  live  in  good 
discipline,  and  take  nothing  without  paying  therefor.  Then, 
in  a  fine  outburst  of  patriotism  and  piety,  the  confederates  de- 
clare that  they  will  never  lay  down  their  arms  until  the  accom- 
plishment of  their  ends,  desiring  rather  to  perish  and  to  be 
buried  in  one  common  sepulchre  devoted  to  the  last  Frenchmen 
dying  in  arms  for  the  cause  of  God  and  their  native  land.' 
Finally,  they  beg  all  good  Catholics  to  make  sure  of  the  Divine 
favor  by  amendment  of  life,  by  holy  processions,  and  by  public 
and  private  prayers. 

Such  were  the  reasons  which  the  League  saw  fit  to  give  to 
the  world  in  justification  of  the  enormous  crime  against  hu- 
manity it  was  about  to  perpetrate,  in  plunging  France  in  a  civil 
war  destined  to  be  more  disastrous  to  civilization,  morality,  and 
human  happiness  than  any  of  the  preceding  conflicts.  How 
sincere  was  the  interest  affected  by  its  leaders  in  the  welfare  of 
the  poor  people,  how  truthful  their  professions  of  undying 
loyalty  to  the  king,  how  profound  their  regard  for  the  main- 
tenance of  the  Roman  Catholic  religion,  how  trustworthy  their 
assurances  of  a  purpose  to  abstain  'from  pillage,  and  to  offer 
violence  to  none  but  those  found  in  arms,  are  questions  that 
can  best  be  answered  in  the  light  of  the  events  of  the  next  ten 
years. 

To  the  manifesto  of  the  League  Henry  of  Yalois  replied  very 
shortly  by  a  declaration  of  his  own,"  in  which  he  endeavored, 
Henry  of  witliout  succcss,  to  dcstroy  the  force  of  the  argu- 

by  a'TOuntir-  i^icnts  of  his  rebelHous  subjects.  So  far  as  religion 
declaration,  -^^r^g  conccnied,  it  was  no  difficult  matter  for  him  to 
show  that  both  before  and  since  his  accession  to  the  throne  he 
had  given  conclusive  proof  of  unsurpassed  devotion  to  the  in- 
terests of  the  Roman  Catholic  faith  by  exposing  life  and  state 

'  "Avec  desir  d'estre  amoneelez  en  une  sepulture  consacree  aux  derniers 
Francois  morts  en  armes  pour  la  cause  de  Dieu  et  de  leur  patrie."  For  the 
proposed  tomb,  however,  a  witty  Huguenot  offered  the  epitaph:  "  Ce  sont  les 
premiers  Espagnols  Francois."    Memoires  de  la  Ligue,  i.  114. 

"  Declaration  de  la  volonte  du  roy  sur  les  nouveaux  troubles  de  ce  roy- 
aume."    Ibid.,  i.  72-83. 


318 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.         Cii.  V. 


in  its  behalf.  If  he  had  not  successfully  carried  out  the  pre- 
scriptive policy  requested  by  the  states  general  of  Blois  (in 
proffering  which  request  the  deputies  had  been  prompted  by 
his  majesty's  own  fervent  attachment  to  the  Catholic  religion)/ 
the  cause  of  the  failure  was  to  be  found  in  the  neglect  of  the 
states  themselves,  despite  royal  entreaties,  to  provide  the  means 
necessary  for  carrying  on  war  against  the  heretics.  The  king 
declared  that  the  peace  so  roundly  denounced  by  the  League 
was  concluded  with  the  advice  of  the  Cardinal  of  Bourbon  him- 
self and  other  princes,  and  for  the  express  purpose  of  seeing 
whether  that  might  not  be  effected  by  mild  measures  which 
severity  had  been  powerless  to  accomplish.  In  fact,  under  its 
beneficent  rule,  the  exercise  of  the  Eoman  Catholic  faith  had 
been  reintroduced  into  many  places  from  which  it  had  been 
banished  during  the  prevalence  of  war,  and  great  progress  had 
been  made  in  the  reformation  of  abuses  in  tlie  administration 
of  justice,  and  in  other  departments  of  church  and  state.  He 
showed  the  unreasonableness  of  the  fears  expressed  respecting 
the  succession  of  a  king  yet  in  his  prime,  and  with  a  3outhful 
wife  for  his  consort,  and  he  ridiculed  the  hope  of  re-establishing 
the  Roman  Catholic  religion  by  means  of  a  war  and  the  intro- 
duction of  foreign  troops.  Strangers  would  then  grow  at  the 
expense  of  France,  and  triumph  in  its  misfortunes.  As  for  the 
good  discipline  that  was  promised,  the  frightful  excesses  in 
which  the  troops  already  enlisted  had  indulged  sufficiently 
demonstrated  the  futility  of  such  expectations. 

All  this  was  very  sound  argument,  and  might  under  other 
circumstances  have  been  convincino-  enough.  The  trouble  was 
An  undignified  tlirougliout  liis  couuter-declaration  Henry  be- 
answer.  trayed  a  weakness  of  purpose  even  more  deplorable 
than  the  feebleness  of  the  resources  at  his  command.  Where 
he  should  have  commanded,  he  condescended  to  argue.  Al- 
though the  names  of  the  conspirators  against  the  peace  of 
France  were  matter  of  common  notoriety,  they  were  not  men- 


'  "Que  les  deputes  y  estans,  auroyent  requis  sa  Majeste  (induits  a  ce  faire 
de  sa  fervente  affection  a  la  Religion  Catholique)  proliiber  du  tout  en  ce  Roy- 
rune  I'exercise  de  la  dite  Religion  pretendue  reformee." 


1585. 


THE  DECLAKATION  OF  PERONNE. 


319 


tioned  in  the  rojal  counter-declaration.  Even  Henry  of  Guise, 
whose  designs  upon  the  crown  of  France  were  so  little  con- 
cealed, and  in  favor  of  whose  claims  written  treatises  had  been 
industriously  circulated,  was  not  particularly  referred  to.  So 
cautiously  and  even  coldly  had  the  king  expressed  himself,  that 
the  world  at  once  compared  his  majesty  to  a  poltroon  who  has 
been  well  beaten  but,  while  complaining  of  his  bruises,  dares 
not  tell  who  struck  him.' 

This  does  not  mean,  however,  that  Henry  was  not  now  in 
some  degree  sensible  of  the  danger  of  his  situation.   Indeed,  the 
violence  of  the  blow  by  which  he  had  been  aroused 

The  king's 

spasmodic  from  liis  accustomcd  torpor  excited,  in  his  yet  drowsy 
activity.  faculties,  irritation  against  those  who  had  ventured  to 
interfere  with  his  sluggish  repose,  not  unmingled  with  fear  for  his 
own  person.  "While  the  old  queen  mother  resorted  again  to  her 
former  arts — setting  out,  one  Mai'ch  evening,  in  her  litter,  xery 
weak  in  body,  and  suffering  both  with  a  severe  attack  of  catarrh 
and  with  gout  in  one  leg,  that  she  might  reach  Epernay,  where 
Guise  was  reported  to  be,  and  confer  with  him  respecting  the 
present  condition  of  affairs — Henry,  in  a  spasm  of  activity,  gave 
himself  up  to  a  consideration  of  the  best  method  of  quelling  the 
disturbance.  A  diligent  search  was  made  of  every  house  in 
Paris,  to  find  who  had  gone  out  to  join  the  Duke  of  Guise ; 
resulting,  we  are  told,  in  the  discovery  that,  within  twenty 
days,  of  artisans  alone  more  than  six  thousand  persons  had  ab- 
sented themselves,  all  going  to  swell  the  numbers  of  the  insur- 
gents. Steps  were  taken  to  keep  the  capital  in  check ;  the 
captains  of  the  quarters  being  changed,  and  new  men,  men  of 
property,  who,  the  day  before,  had  taken  a  solemn  oath  of 


'  "  Pour  toiites  armes  il  print  la  plume  et  fit  une  declaration,  encore  si  froide- 
ment,  qu'on  disoit  qu'il  n'avoit  ose  nommer  son  ennemi  le  due  de  Guise  clief 
de  Tarmee,  et  qu'il  ressembloit  un  qui  se  plaind,  sans  dire  qui  I'a  battu." 
Recueil  des  ehoses  memorables,  610.  Henry,  it  is  worthy  of  notice,  was  equally 
careful  not  to  mention  the  name  of  the  Duke  of  Guise  in  his  conference  with 
the  Dutcli  envoys,  even  while  muttering  threats  of  vengeance,  and  these  by 
no  means  obscure.  "  Jescay  bien,"said  he,  "qui  est  I'autheur  de  ces  troubles, 
mais  si  Dieu  me  donne  vie,  je  lay  rendrai  pareille  et  Ten  ferai  repentir."  Re- 
port of  Calvart,  apud  Motley,  United  Netherlands,  i.  111. 


320 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE. 


Ch.  V. 


allegiance  to  the  king  in  the  presence  of  the  parliament,  being 
substituted.  Turning  scribe,  Henry  wrote,  it  was  said,  with 
his  own  hand,  to  all  the  governors  of  the  realm  and  to  a  great 
number  of  the  gentlemen.  Xever  had  the  Louvre  presented 
a  more  animated  appearance.  Couriers  were  coming  and  going 
incessantly.  One  hundred  and  fifty  or  more  were  sent  out  within 
the  brief  compass  of  a  week.  It  looked  almost  as  though  the  king 
would  at  last  summon  resolution  to  act  the  man.  He  informed 
the  nuncio  of  the  pope  that  if,  as  was  reported,  his  master  had 
entered  the  League,  he  would  himself  be  constrained  to  take 
measures  to  defend  himself,  and  make  such  counter-demon- 
strations as  might  not  at  all  please  his  holiness  and  the  Sacred 
College.  He  professed  the  greatest  indignation  against  the 
Duke  of  MerccBur,  who,  after  having  been  permitted  to  marry 
the  queen's  sister,  had  displayed  in  retui-n  for  countless  favors 
shown  him  by  his  royal  brother-in-law  such  signal  ingratitude 
as  to  join  hands  with  those  who  were  in  arms  against  him.' 

But  all  Henry's  resolution  evaporated  in  complaints  of  ill 
usage.  That  he  hated  the  Duke  of  Guise  and  his  brother  the 
His  hatred  of  Cardinal,  with  undying  hati-ed,  was  no  secret  to  any- 
the  Guises.  Qj^g^  least  of  all  to  tliosc  who  were  the  objects  of 
that  hatred.^  But,  in  his  desperate  desire  to  relapse  again  into 
his  wonted  quiet,  in  his  impatience  once  more  to  be  pursuing 
those  degraded  pleasures  in  which  he  found  the  chief  end  of 
his  creation,  he  soon  made  it  evident  to  observing  men  about 
him  that,  rather  than  sacrifice  his  selfish  ease,  he  would  con- 
cede everything  demanded  of  him.''    The  day  of  vengeance 


•  The  letters  of  Busini  are  full  of  interesting  details  respecting  the  move- 
ments day  by  day.    Negociations  avec  la  Toscane,  iv.  .554,  and  onward. 

'  The  envoys  of  England  and  of  Florence  use,  about  this  time,  almost  the 
very  same  words  to  describe  Henry's  feeling  toward  Guise  and  his  brother. 
"He  hated  the  Guises,"  Sir  Edward  Stafford  said,  "with  a  hatred  which 
would  never  be  quenched."  Froude,  xii.  104.  "L'odio  che  ha  il  Re  contro 
il  duca  di  Guise  e  il  suo  cardinale  e  immortale,  visto  che  aspirano  alia  corona." 
Letter  of  Cavriana,  Negociations  avec  la  Toscane,  iv.  603. 

^  "  ^1  cosa  certissima,  che  Sua  Maesta  vuole  la  pace,  resoluta,  per  quello  che 
intendo,  di  concedere  quanto  vogliono."  Busiui,  May  13,  1585,  ubi  supra, 
iv.  573. 


1585. 


THE  HOLY  LEAGUE. 


321 


would  come  in  the  due  course  of  events.  "When  it  should  come, 
Henry  of  Valois  would  exact  the  full  equivalent  for  the  insults 
received  at  the  hands  of  Henry  of  Guise.  Other  old  scores 
would  also  be  wiped  off  at  the  same  time ;  among  the  rest, 
the  reckoning  against  the  wife  of  Marshal  Ketz,  who,  alluding  to 
the  possibility  that  the  last  Valois  might  end  his  days  in  a  cloister, 
immured  there  by  the  Guises  as  Childeric  had  been  compelled 
by  Pepin  to  receive  tonsure  and  enter  the  conventual  walls  of 
Saint  Omer,  had  remarked  that  "  the  whole  trouble  could  be  set- 
tled with  a  pair  of  scissors.*' '  The  day  of  requital,  however,  had 
not  yet  dawned,  the  day  when  the  Guises,  intoxicated  by  past 
impunity  and  lured  into  the  lion's  den,  would  suddenly,  but 
too  late,  discover  that  there  were  limits  to  the  forbearance  of 
the  most  inert  of  kings,  i^ot  that  the  monarch  even  now  neg- 
lected precautions  against  such  a  catastrophe  as  that  which 
Madame  de  Ketz  had  hinted  at.  On  the  first  of  January, 
1585,  his  majesty  instituted  a  new  and  extraordinary  guard, 
which  the  public  were  not  slow  in  concluding  to  be  a  band  of 
salaried  assassins.  "  There  is  another  order,"  wrote  the  Eng- 
lish ambassador,  "  maketh  men  to  fear  a  determination  of  a 
very  tyrannical  intention,  for  besides  his  ordinary  guard  of 
French  in  two  sorts,  Swissers  and  Scots,  he  hath  erected  Five 
and  Forty,  which  they  that  are  acquainted  with  Italian  terms 
do  term  '  Taillagambi.'  These  must  never  go  from  his  person. 
Whensoever  he  goeth  out,  they  must  be  nearest  to  his  person, 
every  one  a  cuirass  under  his  coat,  and  to  look  at  nothing  but 
the  fulfilling  of  the  king's  will."  '  The  world  was  to  hear,  be- 
fore four  years  should  have  passed,  of  the  murderous  exploits 
His  uncon-  "  Forty-Fivc."    Meanwhile,  Henry  of  Valois, 

cern.  drowsy  and  apparently  irritated  only  at  being  com- 

pelled to  collect  his  wandering  thoughts,  did  little  to  the  pur- 
pose, and  rather  played  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy  than  seri- 


'  "  Ancora,  per  dire,  tutto  s'accomodera  poi  con  uu  paro  forbici."  Letter 
of  Busini,  June  11,  1585,  Negociations  avec  la  Toscane,  iv.  581. 

-'  Sir  E.  Stafford  to  Lord  Burleigh,  December  25,  1584,  Murdiu  State  Papers, 
426.  The  Florentine  agent  Busini,  under  date  of  January  5,  1585,  denom- 
inates the  guard  "  Tagliagaretti "  {i.e.,  "  coupe-jarrets  ").  Negociations  avec 
la  Toscane,  iv.  545. 

Vol.  I.— 21 


322 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.        Cn.  V. 


ously  attempted  to  thwart  them.  Though  compelled  to  take 
up  arms,  his  inclinations  were  all  for  peace.  The  immediate 
present  was  all  that  he  was  concerned  about,  the  more  so  that 
he  had  no  child,  legitimate  or  illegitimate,  and  expected  none.' 
The  last  of  his  race,  he  cared  nothing  for  the  future  of  the 
kingdom  which,  "  by  the  grace  of  God,"  had  been  confided  to 
him,  and  from  which  his  sole  endeavor  was  to  extract  as  much 
treasure  as  possible  to  lavish  upon  himself  and  his  favorites. 
After  him  might  come  the  deluge ;  let  those  who  aspired  to  be 
his  successors,  and  were  ready  to  cut  each  other's  throats  to 
clutch  the  sceptre,  see  to  that.  Two  months  had  not  gone  by, 
when  a  shrewd  Italian  at  Paris  wrote  home  that  the  king  was 
living  as  unconcernedly  as  in  time  of  peace,  giving  himself  lit- 
tle solicitude  for  his  troops.  "  These,"  said  he,  "  are  fresh 
levies,  undisciplined,  licentious,  disaffected,  and,  what  is  worse, 
badly  paid.  You  may  judge  what  can  be  hoped  from  such  sort 
of  men." "  Before  the  recent  inopportime  outbreak  had  come, 
disturbing  all  his  calculations,  Henry  of  Yalois,  it  was  well 
miderstood,  had  been  meditating  an  entire  retreat  from  the 
conduct  of  public  affairs.  The  lessons  of  Catharine  de'  Medici, 
so  sedulously  instilled  into  the  minds  of  all  her  children,  had 
not  been  wasted  upon  this,  her  last  surviving  and  best  loved 
His  desire  to  Heurv,  ucver  destined  to  become  a  man,  how- 

leave  affairs  gy^gj.  Iqj^c^  ]iq  mio-ht  live.  Or  a  true  kino;,  however 

of  state  to  C5  a  ■  o' 

his  mother,  many  the  crowus  that  might  be  placed  on  his  head, 
loved  private  life  so  much  that  he  intended  to  transfer  the 
whole  burden  of  the  state  to  the  shoulders  of  his  mother,'  who, 
whatever  else  might  be  said  of  her,  never  shrank  from  assum- 
ing fresh  responsibilities,  though  she  might  be  weakened  by 
approaching  old  age,  racked  by  gout,  harassed  by  occasional  re- 
turns of  her  constitutional  timidity  and  indecision,  and  haunted 
not  infrequently  by  the  ghosts  of  the  tens  of  thousands  of  her 


'  Letter  of  Cavriana,  April  2,  1585,  Negociations  avec  la  Toscane,  iv.  608. 
"  Letter  of  Cavriana,  May  27,  1585,  ibid.,  iv.  611. 

'  "  E  certo  Sua  Maesta  andava  a  cammino  di  fare  una  ritirata  da  se  stesso 
dalle  cose  publiche,  e  lasciare  la  carica  totale  alia  Reina  Madre,  amando  egli 
sopra  mode  la  vita  privata."    Cavriana,  July  9,  1585,  ibid.,  iv.  615. 


1585. 


THE  HOLY  LEAGUE. 


323 


victims  in  the  Saint  Bartholomew  massacre.  And  what  was  the 
present  course  of  that  mother  ?  Was  she  anxious  to  avert  the 
disaster  impending  over  her  unfortunate  son  ?  Contemporary 
writers,  on  the  contrary,  represent  her  as  co-operating  witli  the 
Duke  of  Guise  and  furthering  the  design  of  the  League,  not 
indeed  so  much  to  render  Guise  great,  as  in  order  to  introduce 
confusion  and  render  it  necessary  that  she  should  be  called  in 
to  restore  order.' 

It  is,  happily,  not  needful  that  the  story  of  the  disgraceful 
scenes  which  followed  should  be  recounted  in  these  pages.  The 
League  concerns  us  here  only  so  far  as  it  affected  the  fortunes 
of  the  Huguenots,  and  a  detailed  account  of  the  successive  af- 
fronts it  was  able  to  put  upon  the  King  of  France 
cess  of  the  would  be  out  of  place.  This  dreary  episode  of  French 
League.  Jiigtory  must  be  read  in  the  pages  of  the  contemporary 
chroniclers,  or,  still  better,  in  those  letters  and  pamphlets  in 
which  the  righteous  indignation  of  an  outraged  people  vented 
itself  upon  the  miscreants  who  had  dared,  under  cover  of  re- 
ligion and  piety,  to  plunge  the  nation  into  civil  war ;  upon  the 
traitors  who,  from  cowardice  or  for  money,  surrendered  the 
posts  they  had  taken  to  defend,  and  upon  the  pusillanimous 
monarch  who  removed  even  the  ordinary  inducements  which 
encourage  subjects  to  be  faithful  to  their  trusts  and  loyal  to  their 
sovereign.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  almost  everywhere  the  League 
struck  promptly  and  effectually ;  scarcely  resorting  at  all  to 
the  pen,  save  in  a  few  pasquinades  and  libels,  wherein  the 
most  infamous  of  the  king's  secret  immoralities  were  held  up 
to  popular  detestation."  In  rapid  succession  all  the  towns  of 
Picardy,  save  only  Boulogne,  fell  under  the  power  of  the 
League.  Guise's  agents  seized  Yerdi;n  and  Toul,  but  failed  in 
securing  Metz,  the  third  and  most  important  of  the  "  Three 
Bishoprics."  Lyons,  under  its  notorious  governor,  Mandelot, 
expelled  from  its  citadel  the  loyal  commandant,  and  razed  the 
citadel  itself  to  the  ground  ;  the  soldiers  of  the  garrison  ex- 
claiming, we  are  told,  for  all  answer  to  the  remonstrances 


'  Recueil  des  choses  memorables,  613. 

'  Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  ii.  (liv.  5,  ch.  5j  424. 


324  THE  HUGUENOTS  AXD  HEXRY  OF  NAVARRE.         Ctt.  V. 


of  the  superior  officer,  that  "  they  had  no  idea  of  being  damned 
for  the  benefit  of  a  favorer  of  heresy  such  as  was  the  king,  and, 
as  for  the  oaths  they  had  taken,  they  had  received  a  dispensa- 
tion from  the  Jesuit  Fathers." '  In  short,  throughout  France 
the  only  serious  rebuff  encountered  by  the  adherents  of  the 
League  was  experienced  at  Marseilles,  where,  after  having  ob- 
tained possession  of  the  city,  under  the  authority  of  one  of  the 
consuls,  they  were  speedily  expelled  and  their  leader  was  hung, 
when  the  inhabitants  came  to  their  senses."  In  general,  to  use 
the  expressive  words  of  Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  "  none  were  seen 
arriving  at  the  royal  court  except  couriers  coming  from  all  parts 
to  announce  the  capture  of  cities  taken  without  a  combat,  and 
by  means  so  shameful  that  history  refrains  from  the  recital, 
for  all  the  stratagems  employed  are  reduced  to  two  categories, 
namely,  great  sums  of  money  promised  or  paid,  or  else  the  dec- 
lamations of  the  preachers,  in  public  or  in  private,  to  move  the 
people  to  the  agreeable  pretexts  of  their  new  party."  ' 

In  the  midst  of  the  general  treachery,  however,  the  fidelity 
of  a  few  governors  of  cities  shone  out  resplendent.  Aymar  de 
Clermont,  Sieur  de  Chastes,  who  commanded  at  Dieppe,  was 
among  the  king's  trusty  servants.  Interested,  as  a  knight  of  the 
order  of  Malta,  in  the  prosperity  of  the  established  church,  he 
was  nevertheless  a  man  of  exemplary  fairness,  loving  the  people 


'  Agrippa  d'Anbigne,  ubi  supra;  De  Thou,  vi.  (book  81)  477. 

'  The  fullest  account  of  the  attempt  upon  Marseilles  is  contained  in  a 
pamphlet,  reprinted  in  Cimber  et  Danjou,  Archives  curieuses,  xi.  29^5.  en- 
titled "  Lettres  escrittes  de  Marseilles  contenant  au  vray  les  choses  qui  s'v  sont 
passees  les  8,  9,  et  10  du  mois  d'Avril  dernier,  loSo."  There  is  a  shorter  ac- 
count in  Memoires  de  la  Ligue,  i.  85,  etc.  One  of  the  first  acts  of  the  Second 
Consul  D'Aries  was  to  throw  all  the  Huguenots  into  the  Tour  Saint  Jean,  and 
to  write  inviting  M.  de  Tins,  commanding  for  the  League  in  Provence,  to 
come  to  the  city.  Subsequently  two  Huguenots  were  killed,  and  their  bodies, 
as  usual,  dragged  by  little  children  through  the  streets.  The  Duke  of  Xevers 
was  waiting  at  Avignon,  on  his  way  to  Italy,  for  the  welcome  tidings  of  the 
capture  of  Marseilles. 

'  Histoire  universelle,  iL  424.  See  De  Thou,  vi.  462^77.  Busini  sums  up 
the  triumphs  of  the  League,  in  a  letter  of  May  13,  1585:  "  Di  maniera  che, 
come  vostra  signoria  puo  comprendere,  questi  della  Lega  hanno  gia  la  maggior 
parte  del  regno,  cioe  le  prmcipali  terre.  come  Orleans,  Bourses,  Tours,  Angers, 
Nantes,  Lyon,  etc."    Negociations  avec  la  Toscane,  iv.  573. 


15S5. 


THE  HOLY  LEAGUE. 


325 


committed  to  his  charge,  irrespectively  of  their  religious  tenets, 
and  in  turn  beloved  by  them  ;  determined  to  preserve  the  peace 
despite  the  confusion  of  the  times  and  the  severity  of  the  royal 
edicts  which  he  was  called  upon  to  execute.  Reposing  no  con- 
fidence in  the  Roman  Catholic  inhabitants  of  Dieppe,  his  own 
fellow-believers,  De  Chastes  summoned  to  his  aid  the  Protes- 
tants, whose  loyalty  was  unimpeachable.  Nightly  were  these 
partisans  of  another  faith  quietly  assembled,  by  the  governor's 
orders,  in  various  houses  throughout  the  city,  with  distinct  in- 
structions as  to  their  duty  in  case  of  tumult.  For  months — in 
fact,  until  the  king's  disgraceful  surrender  to  the  League,  soon 
to  be  narrated — the  Protestants,  whose  public  worship  was  only 
tolerated  outside  of  the  walls,  in  the  distant  hamlet  of  Pal- 
lecheul,  were  intrusted  with  the  guard  of  Dieppe,  their  citizen 
soldiers  spending  the  day,  we  are  told,  in  prayers,  the  night 
watches  in  reading  the  Word  of  God.  Rarely  had  clearer  testi- 
mony been  given  to  Huguenot  loyalty.' 

While  Henry  of  Valois  was  feebly  defending  himself,  per- 
mitting his  mother  to  negotiate  with  traitors  who  should  have 
Philip  the  Ijeen  pursued  and  cut  to  pieces  without  mercy,  and 
Second's  at-    sufferinff  Mendoza  to  hoodwink  him  and  convince 

titU(l6 

him  by  letters  of  Philip  the  Second,  which  he  showed 
him,  that  his  Catholic  majesty  had  no  part  at  all  in  the  League,* 
other  spectators,  scarcely  less  interested  than  he  in  the  issue 
of  the  struggle,  were  curiously  watching  the  course  of  events. 
Xot  Philip  himself,  kept  as  well  informed  of  the  occurrences  at 
the  French  court  as  were  the  faithful  servants  of  the  crown  in 
the  command  of  armies,^  scanned  each  item  of  news  as  it  arrived 


'  Histoire  de  la  Reformation  a  Dieppe  par  Guillaume  et  Jean  Daval  (pub- 
lished by  the  Socicte  Rouennaise.  de  Bibliophiles),  i.  132,  133.  The  same 
writers  inform  us  (ibid.,  i.  138)  that  Governor  De  Chastes,  three  or  four  years 
later,  invited  the  Huguenot  refugees  home  from  England  to  defend  Dieppe, 
and  prevent  the  city  from  following  the  example  of  all  the  rest  of  Normandy, 
save  Caen,  by  embracing  the  side  of  tlie  Holy  League,  after  the  murder  of  the 
Guises  at  Blois.  '-  Busini,  ubi  supra,  iv.  468. 

^  "  Et  se  rejouissent  fort  [les  Espagnols]  des  troubles  de  France,  desquels  ils 
sont  si  bien  advertis  que  les  nouvelles  que  jen  ay  de  vostre  court  me  sont 
mandees  toutes  pareilles  d'Espaigne."  Joyeuse  to  Henry  III.,  Narbonne, 
April  23,  1585,  Loutchitzky,  Documents  inedits,  109. 


326 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE. 


Ch.  V. 


with  half  the  intensity  of  anxiety  felt  by  the  impetuous  Henry  of 
Navarre  from  his  far-distant  domains  at  the  foot  of  the  Pyrenees. 

The  death  of  the  Duke  of  Anjou,  removing  the  only  person 
wlio  stood  between  him  and  the  king,  had  awakened  in  the 
Henry  of  Beamais  for  the  first  time  the  full  consciousness  of 
Valois  writes  ^i^q  destiuv  for  which  he  was  reserved.  The  fact  that 

to  Henry  o£  ^ 

Navarre,  \)qqi\  able,  as  mentioned  in  a  previous  chapter, 

to  bring  to  the  king's  knowledge,  and  thus  to  thwart,  the  earlier 
plot  of  the  League  against  the  royal  authority,  seemed  to  give 
him  an  additional  title  to  act  in  the  present  emergency  as  the  most 
important  ally  and  supporter  of  his  cousin  of  Valois,  Nor  did 
the  latter  disallow  the  claim.  As  early  as  the  twenty-third  of 
March,  Henry  of  Xavarre  received  this  brief  note  from  the  king. 

"My  brother,  I  notify  you  that  I  have  not  been  able,  what- 
ever resistance  I  have  made,  to  prevent  the  evil  designs  of  the 
Duke  of  Guise.  He  is  in  arms.  Be  on  your  guard,  and  make 
no  move.  I  have  heard  that  you  are  at  Castres  for  the  purpose 
of  conferring  with  my  cousin  tlie  Duke  of  Montmorency.  I  am 
very  glad  of  this,  so  that  you  may  provide  for  your  own  affairs. 
I  shall  send  you  a  gentleman  to  Montauban  who  will  advise  you 
of  my  will.    Your  good  brother,  Henry."  ' 

Impatiently,  and  not  without  grave  misgivings  as  to  the  ful- 
filment of  the  royal  promise,  did  the  King  of  Navarre  await  the 
word  that  was  to  permit  him,  the  much-abused  Gascon 
call  in°his    aud  Hugueuot  princc,  to  fly  to  the  assistance  of  his 

jissistfiiice 

hard-pressed  sovereign.  Past  experience  had  made 
him  doubtful  of  the  favor  in  which  he  stood.  Still,  he  renewed 
to  Marshal  Matignon  his  offer  of  service  for  the  king  as  against 
the  League,  "  although,"  he  mournfully  added,  "  on  similar  oc- 
casions that  liave  presented  themselves,  within  three  or  four 
years,  his  majesty  has  not  deigned  to  see  or  listen  to  those 
whom  1  sent  to  him,  and  this  through  the  artifice  of  his  ene- 
mies." "  The  Kino;  of  Navarre's  forebodings  were  destined  to 
be  verified  ;  the  summons  never  came.    Henry  might  advance 

'  Dom  Vaissete,  Histoire  de  Languedoc,  v.  400,  and  Lettres  missives  de 
Henri  IV.,  ii.  38,  taken  from  the  Memoires  de  Gaches,  299. 

-  Henri  of  Navarre  to  Marslial  Matignon,  April,  1585.  Lettres  missives, 
ii.  2G,  27. 


1585.  THE  HOLY  LEAGUE.  327 

to  the  banks  of  the  Dordogne,  iu  order  to  be  near  at  hand  in 
case  of  a  sudden  call ;  the  Valois  was  unwilling  or  afraid  to 
make  a  requisition  upon  him.  In  fact,  it  would  seem  that  the 
French  king  felt  both  fear  and  aversion.  Earlier  in  the  year, 
before  their  departure  for  home,  the  Dutch  envoys  had  de- 
spatched their  secretary,  Calvart  by  name,  to  confer  secretly  with 
Ilenry  of  Xavarre.  Calvart  had  found  the  great  Protestant 
leader  full  of  hope  and  sympathy.  Not  content  with  the  cold 
„      ,   ,  assurance  of  words,  Ilenry  had  promised  to  send  a 

Navarre  s  of-  '  J  r 

ferdecuned.  l^ody  of  two  tliousaud  soldicrs,  at  his  own  exj^ense, 
to  assist  the  states  in  the  desperate  struggle  in  which'  they  were 
engaged.  lie  had  merely  stipulated  that  the  consent  of  tlie 
King  of  France  should  first  be  obtained  for  the  passage  of  the 
Gascon  troops  over  the  border.  But,  much  to  Calvart's  disap- 
pointment, Ilenry  of  Valois  could  not  be  induced  to  permit  the 
Eearnais  to  aid  an  enterprise  in  which  he  had  himself  so  re- 
cently declined  to  take  part.  Secretary  Yilleroy,  acting  as  the 
king's  mouthpiece,  justified  the  refusal  by  the  declaration  that, 
should  his  majesty  either  openly  or  secretly  assist  the  Netherlands, 
or  allow  them  to  be  assisted,  he  would  give  all  the  Catholics 
now  sustaining  his  party  reason  to  go  over  to  the  Guise  faction.' 

From  the  moment  his  keen  eyes  had  descried  the  coming 
storm,  the  King  of  Navarre  had  been  on  the  alert,  ready  to  help 
with  his  own  arm,  anxious  also  to  enlist  in  behalf  of 

The  King  ,  ,      ,  . 

of  Navarre's  tlic  uuworthy  mouarcii  the  co-operation  and  support 
of  others.  For  this  purpose  the  skilled  pen  of  his 
faithful  follower,  Duplessis  Mornay,  was  incessantly  occupied. 
Everyone  at  court  whom  Navarre  could  hope  to  influence  for 
good  was  plied  with  urgent  letters.  On  a  single  day  (the  twenty- 
ninth  of  March)  the  secretary  wrote  from  Montauban  to  M. 
d'Elbene,  to  Abbe  Guadagny,  to  Bellievre,  to  Villeroy,  to 
Chancellor  Chiverny,  begging  them,  in  view  of  the  audacity  of 
the  League,  to  act  promptly  and  prudently,  and  encouraging 
them  with  bright  hopes  of  success.  To  each  the  language  was 
the  same :  "  You  have  acquired  great  reputation  for  prudence  ; 


'  Report  of  Calvart,  Hague  Archives,  apud  Motley,  United  Netherlands, 
i.  108,  111. 


32S  THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.        Ch.  V. 

do  not  si;ffer  the  kingdom,  committed  to  the  keeping  of  your 
arms,  to  perish.  Whatever  the  appearances  may  be,  the  patient 
can  weather  the  disease,  if  only  his  strength  and  his  blood  be 
husbanded.  Fevers  that  spend  their  force  most  quickly  are 
wont  to  have  the  severest  beginnings."  ' 

In  a  letter  to  the  Duke  of  Montmorency,  toward  whom  Na- 
varre now  turned  as  an  old  and  natural  ally,  his  secretary,  in 
his  name,  vividly  sketched  the  present  crisis.    "  In  my  estima- 
tion," he  wrote,  "  this  war  will  be  the  sieve  to  sift  out  true 
Frenchmen,  for,  while  those  that  play  upon  the 

The  war  to  '  \  .      _  , 

sift  out  true  boards  are  dressed  in  h  rench  costumes,  yet  is  it  clear 

Frenchmen.  i      -  o-iTf 

that  the  author  or  tJie  tragedy  is  a  opaniard.  If 
these  actions  depended  upon  the  persons  that  seem  to  move, 
we  might  expect  the  actors  to  draw  back ;  but,  granting  that 
they  have  a  higher  source,  they  will  apparently  proceed  in  their 
course.  .  .  .  My  lord,  in  these  great  affairs  there  is  no  one 
that  can  help  this  prince  more  by  his  advice  than  you  can. 
Preceding  occurrences  have  only  been  play.  Frenchmen  were 
pitted  against  Frenchmen— men  who  had  long  since  measured 
their  strength  against  each  other,  and  of  whom  the  one  party 
was  as  impatient  and  as  likely  to  grow  weary  as  the  other. 
Xow,  French  troops  are  indeed  in  the  field,  but  marshalled  and 
led  by  a  Spanish  intellect,  which  is  so  much  the  more  willing 
to  behold  our  sufferings,  as  we  alone  shall  suffer,  while  it  will 
gain  all  the  advantage.  God  most  frequently  laughs  at  such 
devices,  and  makes  the  thunder  end  in  smoke."  ' 

Meanwhile,  the  Bearnais  did  not  cease  to  remind  the  king, 
by  letter  and  by  the  mouth  of  his  agents  at  court,  that  the 

person  of  his  maiesty  could  not  be  defended  more 
continued  of-  faithfully  tliau  by  a  prince  of  his  own  blood,  nor  his 

state  than  by  those  who  could  hope  to  be  saved  only 
by  its  salvation.'  At  the  same  time,  he  advanced  to  the 
very  northern  borders  of  his  government  of  Guyenne,  keep- 

'  Duplessis  Mornay  to  Villeroy,  March  29,  1585.  Memoires  de  Duplessis 
Mornay,  iii.  8. 

DuplessisMoraay  to  tlie  Duke  of  Montmorency,  March  30, 1585.  Ibid.,  iii.  11. 
'  "Ramenteves  lui,  M.  de  Chassincourt,  que  sa  personne  ne  peult  estre  plus 
fidelement  defendeue  que  par  son  sang  propre,  ni  son  estat  que  par  ceulx  qui 


1585. 


THE  HOLY  LEAGUE. 


329 


ing  his  soldiers  busily  at  work  repairing  and  fortifying  the 
cities  intrusted  to  Protestant  hands,  so  as  to  keep  them  out  of 
mischief  until  the  moment  when,  by  the  permission  of  their 
sovereign,  they  should  cross  the  broad  provinces  of  Angoumois 
and  Poitou,  and  hasten  to  meet  him  on  the  northern  bank  of 
the  Loire.'  His  example  was  followed  by  his  cousin  the  Prince 
of  Conde,  who,  from  the  walls  of  Saint  Jean  d'Angely,  begged 
to  be  allowed  to  enter  the  king's  service  with  his  company  of 
Protestant  gentlemen,  ail  of  whom  had  provided  themselves 
with  horses  and  arms,  and  only  awaited  the  word  of  command." 

If  Henry  of  Yalois  should  follow  the  suicidal  course  suggested 
to  him  by  traitors  in  the  royal  council,  if  he  should  make 
nominal  friends  of  the  enemies  who  had  conspired  against  his 
crown  and  authority,  by  breaking  his  compacts  with  the  Hugue- 
nots, dissolving  the  peace  so  often  claimed  as  his  own  voluntary 
act,  and  proscribing  the  Protestant  religion,  it  would  be  from 
no  lack  of  wholesome  advice  either  from  within  or  from  with- 
out, from  no  want  of  proffers  of  assistance.  The  historian 
^  .^^  ^  De  Thou  has  inserted  in  his  great  work  the  long, 
of  the  Bishop  caudid,  and  forcible  plea  for  peace  and  toleration 

of  Acqs.  , 

made  by  Frangois  de  Xoailles,  Bishop  of  Acqs,  a 
prelate  who  had  acquired  the  greatest  distinction  as  an  ambassa- 
dor to  London,  to  Venice,  and  to  Constantinople.'  From  beyond 


ne  peuvent  estre  conserves  qu'eu  le  conservant."  Henry  of  Navarre  to  Chas- 
sincourt,  ibid.,  iii.  15. 

'  Henry  of  Navarre  to  Henry  III.,  April  13,  1585,  Lettres  missives,  ii.  38- 
40;  same  to  same.  May  7,  1585,  ibid.,  ii.  63-65.  Mr.  Motley  makes  Henry  of 
Navarre  to  have  been  "  resident  at  Chartres"  when  visited  by  Calvart  on  liis 
secret  mission  (United  Netherlands,  i.  lOS).  As  tlie  Bearnais  never  resided  on 
the  north  side  of  the  Loire  after  his  flight  from  the  French  court,  in  February, 
1576  (see  above,  i.  85),  until  he  came  to  the  aid  of  Henry  III.,  at  his  invita- 
tion, thirteen  years  later,  this  is  evidently  a  mistake.  Probably,  for  "Char- 
tres "  we  must  read  "Castres."  The  two  cities  are  nearly  three  hundred  and 
fifty  miles  apart  in  a  straight  line.  Henry  of  Navarre  had  a  conference  with 
the  Duke  of  Montmorency  at  Castres  in  March,  1585.  See  Memoires  de 
Caches,  297-299. 

-  "Mais  joze  a  cette  heure  men  asseurer  de  tant  plus  qu'il  est  plus  que  ja- 
mais necessaire  au  service  de  vostre  dite  Majeste  par  I'outrecuydee  license  de 
ses  ennemys."  Henry  of  Conde  to  Henry  III. ,  May  22,  1.585,  Loutchitzky, 
Documents  iuedits,  132.  s  Dy  Thou,  vi.  (book  81)  405-473. 


330 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.        Ch.  V. 


the  channel,  Queen  Elizabeth — not  deterred  by  the  unworthy 
treatment  of  her  envoy  Wade,  assaulted  and  beaten  by  the 
Duke  of  Auniale,  contrary  to  the  law  of  nations,  nor  disgusted 
even  by  the  treacherous  conferences  of  Secretary  Villeroy  with 
Mendoza  respecting  a  proposed  invasion  of  England,  which  had 
been  I'eported  to  her  by  Sir  Edward  Stafford' — wrote  a  letter 
Theremon-  vigorous  remonstraucc.  She  expressed  her  aniaze- 
QueerEuia-  ^Q^^t  ^liat  a  great  king,  contrary  to  all  reason  and 
honor,  should  sue  for  peace  of  traitors,  instead  of 
forcing  them  to  submit  to  authority.  She  warned  him  that  it 
was  unlikely  that  the  rebels  would  be  content  with  ruling  France 
under  his  name ;  for  princes  conquered  by  their  subjects  are 
rarely  of  long  continuance.  She  offered  her  own  assistance,  and 
declared  that  should  he  be  pleased  to  accept  it,  the  Leaguers 
Avould  be  seen  put  to  the  greatest  shame  that  ever  rebels  knew. 
She  bade  him  encourage  his  loyal  subjects,  now  disheartened  hj 
doubts  engendered  of  his  neglect  to  punish  traitors.  It  were 
better  to  lose  twenty  thousand  men  than  reign  at  the  pleasure 
of  rebels.  "  If  a  queen,  in  sixteen  days,  brought  thirty  thou- 
sand men  into  the  field,  to  chastise  the  vagaries  of  two  fools, 
excited  thereto  by  another  prince  and  not  led  by  desire  of  pi-i- 
vate  gain,  what  ought  a  king  of  France  to  do  against  such 
persons  as  claim  descent  in  direct  line  (as  they  dream)  from 
Charlemagne — a  line  taking  the  precedence  of  that  of  Yalois — 
and,  in  order  the  better  to  palliate  their  deed,  protest  that  they 
are  the  champions  of  the  Catholic  religion,  to  which  you  belong, 
taunting  you  with  not  being  so  faithful  a  servant  of  the  church 
as  they  are  !  For  the  love  of  God,  indulge  no  more  in  this  too 
protracted  sleep  !  "  ^ 

"With  this  kind  appeal  came  a  substantial  offer  of  four  thou- 
sand foot-soldiers  whom  the  queen  had  ready  for  service,"  and 
of  liberal  advances  of  money. 


'  See  Froude,  xii.  99,  100,  and  Motley,  United  Netherlands,  i.  124-127. 

^  Queen  Elizabeth  to  Henry  III.  [May,  1585],  Lettres  missives,  ii.  227,  etc. 
Translated  in  Froude,  xii.  101.  The  letter  was  much  admired  by  Henry  of 
Navarre,  who  wrote  to  the  Countess  of  Grammont :  '' Vous  y  verres  un  brave 
langage  et  un  plaisaut  style."    Lettres  missives,  ubi  supra. 

2  Letter  of  Busini,  May  28,  1585.    Negoeiatious  avec  la  Toscaue,  iv.  574. 


1585. 


THE  HOLY  LEAGUE. 


331 


Other  old  and  tried  allies  of  the  Frencli  crown  sent  envoys 
bearing  similar  remonstrances  and  similar  offers  of  help.  To 
Paris  came  in  close  succession  the  extraordinary  embassies  of 
the  Electors  of  Saxony,  Brandenburg,  and  the  Palatinate,  of  the 
Landgrave  of  Hesse,  and  of  the  Dukes  of  Brunswick 
German  aUCl  Wurtemberg.  Among  the  members  of  these 
prmce„.  deputations  appeared  some  of  the  most  distinguished 
diplomatists  of  Germany.'  Meanwhile,  the  German  princes  in- 
dicated unmistakably  the  drift  of  their  sympathy,  by  strictly 
forbidding  any  troops  from  leaving  their  territories  without 
license,  and  by  threatening  the  Duke  of  Lorraine,  both  by  the 
mouth  of  messengers  and  in  writing,  with  their  severe  dis- 
pleasure, should  that  nobleman  venture  to  war  against  the  Hu- 
guenots.'' 

But  offers  of  assistance,  protests,  and  entreaties  were  alike 
useless.  Henry,  openly  menaced  by  the  League,  had  the  mis- 
^.  ,  fortune  to  have  about  him  few  faithful  advisers.  If 
evil  counsel-  a  Marshal  d'Aumont  was  found  to  advocate  stren- 
uous resistance  to  the  demands  of  Guise  and  his  as- 
sociates, he  stood  almost  alone.  The  queen  mother  played  upon 
his  fears,  and  exaggerated  the  perils  of  his  situation.  As  for 
his  other  advisers,  their  attitude  showed  clearly  that  Spanish 
ducats  had  been  judiciously  expended  upon  them.  And  Henry 
of  Valois  had  within  himself  no  reserve  of  moral  force  to  resist 
their  importunities. 

It  is  always  an  unprofitable  inquiry  to  ask  why  the  coward 
refuses  to  adopt  the  manly  course  of  conduct  which,  although 
His  moral  attended  with  temporary  discomfort  and  possible  dan- 
turpitude.  ^^^.^  infallibly  leads  to  that  very  i-est  and  security  upon 
which  he  sets  a  value  far  transcending  all  considei-ations  drawn 
from  truth,  honor,  and  integrity.  There  are  problems  in  hu- 
man nature  beyond  the  power  of  men  to  solve.  Above  all,  in 
the  analysis  of  motives  in  a  character  so  depraved  as  that 
of  the  man  (scarcely  worthy  of  the  name  of  man)  now  seated 
upon  the  throne  of  France,  are  we  confronted  with  difficulties 


'  Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  ii.  459. 

^  Letter  of  Busiui,  June  11,  1585. 


Negociations  avec  la  Toscane,  iv.  580. 


332  THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.        Cn.  V. 

and  contradictions  so  great  as  to  defy  satisfactory  explanation. 
Some  points,  however,  are  sujBficiently  clear.  Henry  of  Yalois 
was  the  most  purely  selfish,  as  he  was  in  morals  the  most  des- 
picable monarch  that  ever  wore  the  French  crown.  For  not  a 
living  soul  did  he  sincerely  care.  Childless  and  without  hope 
of  begetting  an  heir  to  the  throne  ;  united  in  wedlock  to  a  wife 
to  whom  he  was  habitually  false,  and  toward  whom  he  fre- 
quently did  not  pretend  to  offer  even  an  outward  show  of 
respect ; '  cursed  with  a  mother  as  faithless  to  her  own  children 
as  she  was  treacherous  to  her  kind  and  'reckless  of  any  higher 
Power ;  able  to  boast  of  no  friends,  of  no  comrades  save  the 
necessary  companions  and  accessories  of  his  vices — this  prince 
gave  himself  no  solicitude  for  the  future,  and  plunged  deeper 
and  deeper  in  the  abyss  of  sensuality.  Excesses  had  destroyed 
the  very  tissue  of  his  moral  constitution,  and  left  no  room  for  the 
hope  that  nature,  always  more  benignant  than  men  deserve  to 
find  her,  might  reconstruct  the  original  fabric.  In  so  untoward 
a  soil  as  Henry's  mind  no  seed  of  magnanimous  resolve  could 
find  a  lodgement  with  the  prospect  of  germinating  and  eventu- 
ally bearing  fruit  in  heroic  accomplishment." 

Early  in  the  progress  of  the  struggle  between  the  king  and 
the  League,  Henry  of  Navarre  had  held  a  conference  of  his 
chief  supporters  to  deliberate  respecting  the  impor- 

NjiVQrrs  con- 

suits  the  Hii-  tant  question,  what  attitude  the  Protestants  should 
guenotc  ic ».  ^^^^^     ^^^.^  emergency.    All  the  leaders  of  the  party 

were  there,  and  the  hall  of  the  priory  of  Guitres  (not  far  from 
the  field  of  Coutras,  soon  to  attain  world-wide  fame)  was 
crowded  with  a  company  of  Huguenot  warriors  of  vai'ious  ages. 
Some  were  young  men  unused  to  scenes  of  conflict,  others  vet- 
erans in  the  military  art,  but  all  were  flushed  with  expectation, 
and  anxiously  awaiting  the  decision  of  the  Bearnais.  There 
may  have  been  sixty  persons  present  in  all. 

A  contempoi'ary  historian,  who  himself  took  a  leading  part 
in  the  discussion,  has  preserved  for  us  a  full  and  graphic  ac- 


'  See  Busini's  letter  of  June  11,  1585,  ubi  supra,  iv.  581. 
^  The  disgusting  story  of  Henry's  depravity  is  told  with  a  plainness  of  speech 
characteristic  of  the  sixteenth  century  by  Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  ii.  424,  439. 


\ 


1585  THE  HOLY  LEAGUE.  333 

count  of  this  momentons  consultation.  The  picture  well  de- 
serves to  be  reproduced  here,  so  characteristic  was  the  scene  of 
the  sturdy  Huguenot  chiefs  whose  strong  right  arms  sustained 
an  iTupopular  cause  for  a  whole  generation  against  all  the  attacks 
brought  to  bear  upon  them  by  a  hostile  king  and  an  over- 
whelming majority  of  the  French  nation. 

The  proceedings  began,  according  to  the  good  old  custom  of 
the  Huguenots,  who,  whatever  their  faults  may  have  been, 
were  at  least  a  i-eligious  folk,  with  a  solemn  invocation  of  the 
presence  and  blessing  of  tlie  Almighty.  The  name  of  the 
Protestant  minister  who  officiated  has  not  been  transuaitted  to 
us,  but  it  is  not  improbable  that  to  Gabriel  d' Amours,  who 
offered  prayer  before  the  charge  at  Coutras,  the  honorable  duty 
was  committed.  Then  the  King  of  Jvavarre  addressed  those 
present  with  that  mixture  of  earnestness  and  cheerful  good  na- 
ture which  he  could  command  on  every  occasion.  He  assured 
them  that,  had  the  critical  juncture  in  the  affairs  of  France 
been  likely  to  affect  his  own  life  and  interests  alone,  he  would 
not  have  troubled  them  to  come  to  this  conference.  But  now 
the  preservation  or  the  ruin  of  all  the  Reformed  churches  was 
in  question,  and  the  first  point  to  be  settled  was  a  vital  one. 
"  Shall  we  sit  still,"  said  Henry,  "  with  crossed  arms,  while  our 
enemies  are  contending  together,  and  shall  we  send  all  our 
warriors  into  the  king's  armies,  as  some  maintain  that  we  ought 
to  do,  without  assuming  a  special  name  or  setting  up  a  distinct 
banner  ;  or,  shall  we,  according  to  the  view  advanced  by  others, 
arm  ourselves,  but  stand  aloof,  ready  at  any  moment  to  help 
the  king  or  strike  a  blow  to  better  our  own  condition  ?  Here 
is  the  matter  respecting  which  I  beg  each  one  to  express  his 
opinion  freely  and  without  passion." 

The  Huguenot  chiefs  had  seated  themselves  around  the  room 
with  little  regard  to  form  or  precedence.  The  Yiscount  of  Tu- 
renne,  who  chanced  to  be  on  the  kiner's  left  hand,  was 

Advice  of  the     ,      „  ,  ,      .      .      .  i  i 

Viscount  of    the  first  to  reply  to  the  mvitation.    He  espoused  the 

Turcnne.  .       .  .  ,,  ^  .  ,,       .  ,  , 

policy  or  quiet  inaction.  (Jur  patience,  said  he, 
"  will  cut  the  throat  of  our  enemies'  reasons ;  our  impatience 
would  justify  their  arms  and  their  plans.  As  respects  success, 
I  reason  thus  :  If  you  take  up  arms,  the  king  will  fear  you  ;  if 


334 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.        Ch.  V. 


lie  fear  you,  he  will  hate  you ;  if  he  hate  you,  he  will  attack 
yoii ;  if  he  attack  you,  he  will  destroy  you.  My  advice  is  that, 
by  our  endurance,  we  should  heap  coals  of  fire  upon  the  heads 
of  those  who  unjustly  hate  us.  Let  us  permit  our  braves  to 
enter  the  royal  armies.  The  King  of  France  will  then  owe  his 
deliverance  to  our  valor,  and  will  sacrifice  his  past  hatred  to  our 
humility.  Should  he  hereafter  come  to  an  agreement  with  his 
adversaries  and  ours,  our  integrity  will  shine  forth  resplendent 
as  the  mid-day  sun  in  the  sight  of  all  mankind." 

So  convincing  did  the  viscount's  arguments  appear,  that  as 
man  after  man  was  called  upon,  each  declared  himself  of  the 
same  mind,  none  venturing  to  do  more  than,  perhaps,  to  add 
some  historical  illustration  or  parallel  by  way  of  corroboration. 
A  score  had  spoken,  and  Turenne's  opinion  seemed  about  to  be 
adopted  as  the  i;nanimous  sense  of  the  meeting,  when,  the  turn 
or  Agrippa  d'Aubigne  coming,  that  ardent  and  blunt  speaker 
turned  the  tide  of  feeling. 

"  It  would  be  to  trample  under  foot  the  ashes  of  our  martyrs 
and  the  blood  of  our  brave  soldiers,"  said  he  ;  "  it  would  be  to 
erect  the  srallows  over  the  tombs  of  our  dead  princes 

Reply  of  °  .  1      Ti      •  . 

Agrippa       and  great  captains,  and  condemn  to  the  like  imominv 

d-AubignO.  -  ii  t  t    ■,     •    t  , 

those  w'ho  survive  and  iiave  devoted  their  lives  to  the 
cause  of  their  God,  here  to  call  in  question  the  justice  of  their 
magnanimous  course.  It  is  not  ours  to  look  behind  us,  where 
we  shall  only  see  churches,  cities,  families,  individual  persons 
ruined,  partly  by  the  perfidy  of  the  enemy,  partly  by  that  of 
men  who  sought  excuses  to  exempt  themselves  from  those 
labors  and  dangers  to  which  God  calls  us  whenever  so  it  seems 
good  to  Him.  '  If  3-011  take  up  arms,  the  king  will  fear  you.' 
That  is  true.  '  If  the  king  fear  you,  he  will  hate  you.'  Would 
to  God  that  this  hatred  on  his  part  were  yet  to  begin  !  '  If  he 
hate  you,  he  will  attack  and  destroy  you.'  "Would  that  we  had 
not  yet  experienced  the  power  of  that  hatred,  but  rather  the 
power  of  that  fear  which  prevents  the  effects  of  hatred  !  Happy 
those  who  by  that  fear  forestall  their  ruin  !  Wretched  he  who 
shall  draw  down  upon  himself  this  ruin  by  making  himself 
contemptible.  I  say,  therefore,  that  we  alone  ought  not  to  re- 
main unarmed,  when  all  France  is  in  arms,  nor  permit  our  sol- 


1585. 


THE  HOLY  LEAGUE. 


335 


diers  to  take  an  oath  to  support  captains  wlio  have  taken  an 
oath  to  exterminate  us,  nor  compel  them  to  show  respect  for 
the  countenance  of  those  wliom  they  ought  to  slash  with  their 
cutlasses ;  much  less  force  them  to  serve  under  the  flag  of  the 
white  cross,  which  has  always  been,  and  must  still  he,  the  target 
for  our  missiles.  Shall  we  exhibit  to  our  young  nobles  igno- 
miny dwelling  with  us  and  honor  with  the  other  side  ?  What 
will  become  of  our  princes  of  the  blood  and  our  great  party 
leaders,  when  they  shall  have  given  over  to  their  enemies  both 
their  followers  and  the  credit  purchased  by  so  many  benefits 
conferred  ?  We  must  indeed  manifest  our  humility,  but  let  us 
see  to  it  that  there  be  no  cowardice  mingled  with  it.  Let  us 
remain  in  good  condition,  to  be  of  service  to  the  king  in  his 
need,  and  to  help  ourselves  in  our  own.  Then,  when  the  right 
moment  shall  come,  let  us  bend  our  knees  before  him  fully 
armed,  take  our  oath  of  allegiance  to  him,  drawing  our  right 
hand  from  out  of  the  knight's  gauntlet,  and  bring  our  victories, 
not  our  amazement,  to  his  feet.  The  pretext  which  our  ene- 
mies have  seized  in  order  to  escape  from  the  authority  of  their 
sovereign,  is  that  they  might  fly  at  our  throats.  It  is  necessary, 
since  the  royal  sceptre  cannot  stop  them,  that  respect  for  our 
swords  should  produce  that  effect.  I  conclude  thus  :  If  we 
disarm,  the  king  will  despise  us  ;  contempt  for  us  will  give  him 
over  to  our  enemies  ;  joined  with  them,  he  will  attack  us  and 
ruin  us  in  our  defenceless  condition.  On  the  other  hand,  if  we 
take  up  arms,  the  king  will  respect  us ;  respecting  us,  he  will 
summon  us  to  his  assistance  ;  united  with  him,  we  shall  over- 
throw all  our  enemies." 

Scarcely  had  D'Aubigne  ended  his  earnest  remonstrance 
when  Henry  of  Navarre,  forgetting,  in  his  impatient  ardor, 
the  proprieties  of  the  occasion,  which  dictated  silence 

Henry  of  Na-  ^  -i    n    i  •         t  . 

varre's  deci-   ou  liis  part  uutil  all  liis  adviscrs  should  have  been 

sion.  ,  , 

given  an  opportunity  to  express  themselves,  audibly 
exclaimed :  "  I  am  of  his  opinion  ! " — "  Je  suis  a  lui."  The  rest 
of  the  company  was  as  much  carried  away  by  tlie  fervid  elo- 
quence of  D'Aubigne  as  was  the  king  himself,  and,  as  each 
was  consulted,  all,  including  the  Prince  of  Conde  and  the 
prudent  Duplessis  Mornay,  concurred  in  the  view  that  the 


33G 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.        Cu.  V. 


Protestants  of  France  could  not  afford  to  stand  bj,  unarmed 
spectators  of  the  conflict  now  raging." 

Meanwhile,  the  more  timid  Henry  of  Valois  showed  himself 
the  more  the  courage  and  arrogance  of  the  League  increased. 
Arrogance  of  Cardinal  Bourbon  knew  enough  of  religion  at  least  to 
the  League,  .^^gg  pjous  plirases  iu  his  correspondence.  So  he  wrote 
to  the  Duchess  of  Xevers,  with  no  attempt  to  conceal  his 
glee :  "  Our  quarrel  is  for  the  honor  of  God,  albeit  the  greater 
part  of  men  think  it  to  be  for  our  ambition  adding,  "  I  will 
tell  you  that,  if  it  please  God,  there  will  be  seen  the  finest 
army  that  has  ever  been  seen  in  this  kingdom  for  five  hundred 
years.  The  queen  speaks  to  us  of  peace,  but  we  demand  so 
many  things  for  the  good  of  our  religion,  that  I  fear  our  de- 
mands will  not  be  granted."  '  Within  a  little  more  than  a 
fortnight  after  this,  the  cardinal  and  his  associates  presented 
to  the  queen  mother,  one  fine  Sunday  (the  ninth  of  June, 
1585),  the  modest  requests  they  made  of  her  son  the  king.  The 
title  of  the  paper  stated  its  obiect  to  be    to  show 

It  presents  a  1    r  J 

petition  to     clearly  that  their  intention  is  no  other  than  the  pro- 

the  king, 

juneo,  15S5.  motion  and  advancement  of  the  glory  and  honor  of 
God,  and  the  extirpation  of  heresy,  without  making  any  at- 
tempt upon  the  State  as  the  heretics  falsely  assert."  The  peti- 
tion was  not  long,  and  after  sundry  protests  of  loyalty  and 
pure  intentions,  went  directly  to  the  matter  in  hand.  The 
League  begored  the  king  to  issue  an  edict  constraining-  all  his 
subjects  to  make  profession  of  the  Catholic  religion,  all  other 
worship  being  interdicted,  and  declaring  heretics  incapable  of 
holding  any  public  office  or  dignity.  His  majesty  was  to  swear 
to  observe  this  edict  and  require  a  similar  oath  of  all  others, 
from  the  peers  of  the  realm  down  to  the  lowest  officer  of  the 
crown.  He  was  to  demand  and  enforce  the  restoration  of  the 
cities  now  withheld  by  the  Prote.stants,  and,  in  particular,  to 
cease  from  protecting  the  city  of  Geneva,  "  the  fountain  from 
which  heresy  flows  forth  into  his  kingdom  and  throughout  all 


'  Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  ii.  427-430  (liv.  v.,  c.  5). 

-  Cardinal  Bourbon  to  the  Duchess  of  Nevers,  May  23,  1585,  Memoires  de 
Nevers,  i.  648. 


15S5. 


THE  HOLY  LEAGUE. 


337 


Christendom."  Whereas  they  might  with  propriety  demand 
some  security  for  their  own  persons  and  property,  the  petition- 
ers declare  that  they  are  quite  ready  to  divest  themselves  of  all 
safeguards,  save  those  that  depend  upon  his  favor,  their  own 
innocence,  and  the  good-will  of  all  good  men.  In  fact,  they 
offer,  if  so  it  please  the  king,  to  resign  into  his  hands  all  the 
charges  conferred  upon  them  by  him  or  by  his  predecessors, 
and  to  retire  into  private  life  and  end  their  days  in  their  own 
houses,  content  with  having,  under  his  name  and  authority, 
aided  so  excellent  a  work.' 

The  sincerity  of  the  offer,  and,  indeed,  of  the  entire  document 
to  which  Charles  of  Bourbon  and  Henry  of  Guise  affixed  their 
Insincerity  of  Signatures,  could  be  gauged  by  the  fact  that  the  ac- 
it3  offer.  cumulation  of  offices  upon  the  Duke  of  Epernon  and 
other  royal  favorites  not  of  the  family  of  Guise  had  been  again 
and  again  avowed  to  be  one  of  the  standing  grievances  that  had 
provoked  and  rendered  necessary  the  present  appeal  to  arms. 

It  was  but  a  single  day  after  the  Sunday  which  the  League 
had  chosen  to  desecrate  at  Chalons,  by  the  presentation  of  a 
paper  seeking  to  secure  the  undisturbed  sway  of  religious 
persecution  throughout  France,  that  one  of  the  most  striking 
manifestoes  ever  published  in  that  country  saw  the 

Manifesto  ot  ^      .       ,        .         /  _  _ r  f  -v-r 

Henry  of  Na-  light  lu  tlio  City  ot  ijergerac.    Henry  or  jNavarre  had 

varre,  Ber-  . 

geracj^une    tlius  far  kept  silcncc.     It  was  now  time  that  he 
should  publish  to  the  world,  and  especially  to  the 
French  people,  the  falsity  of  the  accusations  set  forth  by  the 
League  as  a  pretext  for  their  treasonable  acts. 

The  King  of  Navarre  began  by  a  distinct  profession  of  his 
belief  in  the  Christian  religion.  He  held,  he  said,  the  Script- 
ures of  the  Old  and  E'ew  Testaments  to  be  the  infallible  rule 

'  "  Requeste  au  roy,  et  derniere  resolution  des  princes,  seigneurs,  gentils- 
hommes,  villes  et  communautez  Catlioliques,  presentee  a  la  royne,  mere  de 
sa  Majeste,  le  dimanclie  neufiesme  juing,  l.TOo.  Pour  montrer  clairement  que 
leur  intention  n'est  autre  que  la  promotion  et  avancement  de  la  gloire,  Lon- 
neur  de  Dieu,  et  extirpation  des  heresies,  sans  rien  attenter  a  I'etat,  comme 
faussement  imposent  les  heretiques  malsentans  de  la  foy,  et  leurs  partizans.  ' 
Memoires  de  la  Ligue,  i.  184-7;  Memoires  de  Nevers,  i.  681-3.  See  De 
Thou,  vi.  483,  etc.  It  may  be  noted  that  the  date  at  the  end  of  the  paper  is 
one  day  later  ;  "  faict  a,  Chaalous,  le  dixiesme  jour  de  juin. " 


33S 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OP  NAVARRE. 


On.  V. 


of  faitli,  he  received  the  creeds  of  the  early  Church,  and  heartily 
anathematized  all  the  errors  condemned  by  the  most  ancient, 
celebrated,  and  lawful  councils.  As  to  the  questions  now  in 
dispute,  he  was  neither  the  first  nor  the  only  person  that  had 
insisted  upon  the  necessity  of  reforming  the  abuses  prevailing 
in  the  Church.  That  necessity  had  been  the  burden  of  all  re- 
cent councils,  the  aspiration  of  all  good  men  (who  were  not  for 
that  reason  reputed  heretics),  and  the  demand  of  the  Very 
Christian  kings  of  France.  The  refusal  to  grant  a  general 
council  for  the  purpose  of  reformation  had  led  to  a  protest  on 
the  part  of  a  number  of  princes  and  states,  and  to  the  schism 
which  the  writer  now  deplored.  For  himself,  born  since  this 
schism  began,  and  brought  up  at  a  time  when  the  exercise  of 
both  religions  was  permitted  by  the  king  in  the  states  general, 
as  it  had  been  since  confirmed  by  several  royal  edicts,  he  had 
not  only  been  taught  from  early  infancy  to  believe  that  the 
Romish  Church  was  corrupt  and  needed  reformation,  but  had 
been  confirmed  in  this  opinion  by  the  reading  of  God's  Word  and 
by  converse  with  learned  men.  This  conscientious  belief  had 
exposed  him  to  many  perils,  and,  to  his  great  regret,  deprived 
him,  on  the  present  occasion,  of  the  favor  of  his  majesty  and 
of  the  opportunity  to  render  him  good  service,  as  he  might  have 
done,  could  he,  with  a  clear  conscience,  have  embraced  the 
same  religious  profession  as  the  monarch.  ISTevertheless,  in 
order  to  show  that  his  course  was  dictated  not  by  obstinacy  but 
by  constancy,  not  by  ambition  but  by  a  single  desire  for  his 
own  salvation,  he  begged  his  majesty  to  convene  a  free  and 
lawful  council,  such  as  had  been  promised  in  his  edicts,  and  de- 
clared himself  ready  and  i-esolved  to  receive  instruction  from  it 
and  to  regulate  his  belief  by  what  might  there  be  decided  on 
the  religious  questions  of  the  day.'  To  the  possible  objection 
that  the  Council  of  Trent  had  rendered  unnecessary  such  a 
council  as  he  spoke  of,  he  replied  that  no  account  could  be  taken 
of  a  body  against  which  the  ambassadors  of  the  King  of  France 


'  "  Estant  ledit  Seigneur  Roy  de  Navarre  tout  prest  et  resolu  de  recevoir 
instruction  par  iceluy,  et  regler  sa  creance  par  ce  qui  en  sera  decide  sur  les 
differents  de  la  religion." 


1585. 


THE  HOLY  LEAGUE. 


339 


liad  been  instructed  to  protest,  and  whose  decrees  neither  tliey 
nor  the  Parliament  of  Paris  could  ever  be  prevailed  upon  to 
recognize  and  publish,  even  after  Saint  Bartholomew's  Day, 
when  everything  seemed  to  favor  the  demand  of  those  who  ur- 
gently sought  the  acceptance. 

It  would,  therefore,  be  as  absurd  to  style  the  King  of  Navarre 
a  heretic,  before  the  settlement  of  the  matters  in  dispute  by  a 
council  to  whose  decisions  he  had  offered  to  submit,  as  it  would 
be  to  hold  a  man  guilty  upon  whose  case  a  court  of  justice  has 
not  yet  passed.  Kor  M'as  he  contumacious  or  schismatic,  since 
he  stood  ready  to  appear,  to  give  an  account,  to  learn,  even  to 
change  for  the  better,  so  soon  as  the  better  should  be  taught 
him.  lie  complained  that,  up  to  the  present  time,  he  had  seen, 
through  long  years,  an  abundance  of  men  zealous  for  his 
destruction,  not  one  man  zealous  for  his  instruction.  Nor  could 
he  be  called  a  relapsed  heretic,  since  he  had  never  been  con- 
verted from  his  alleged  heresy.  If,  indeed,  it  was  true  that, 
after  Saint  Bartholomew's  Day,  he  sent  a  messenger  to  the 
pope  and  embraced  the  mass,  yet  no  argument  was  needed  to 
prove  the  nullity  of  a  conversion  effected  by  such  notorious  in- 
justice and  violence. 

Having  thus  vindicated  his  own  religious  attitude,  Henry  of 
Navarre  proceeded  to  vindicate  himself  from  the  charge  of 
being  a  persecutor  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  and  showed 
that  not  only  had  he  in  his  own  patrimonial  estates  of  Beam 
conceded  the  largest  liberty  to  the  adherents  of  that  church, 
but  even  when,  in  other  places,  he  might  have  been  pro- 
voked by  the  rigorous  proscription  exercised  against  the  Prot- 
estants of  Fi-ance  to  retaliate  upon  priests  and  monks,  popu- 
larly believed  to  be  the  advocates  of  the  persecution,  he  had, 
on  the  contrary,  extended  to  them  his  full  protection.  For 
example,  in  Agen,  his  own  ordinary  residence,  the  Romish 
clei-gy  had  discharged  their  accustomed  duties  and  the  monks 
had  freely  preached  in  the  churches,  even  at  the  very  height 
of  the  troubles ;  while  at  the  same  time  he  had  been  satis- 
fied that  the  Protestants  should  hold  their  services  for  preach- 
ing in  houses  whose  use  had  been  obtained  for  the  pur- 
pose. 


340 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.        Cu.  V. 


After  protesting  his  own  affection  for  the  reigning  monarch 
and  sincere  desire  for  his  long  life,  Henry  next  exposed  the 
absurdity  of  the  League  in  demanding  of  a  young  king,  married 
and  in  the  Hower  of  his  age,  that  he  should  name  a  successor 
to  the  throne,  in  the  person  of  a  Cardinal  of  Bourbon,  a  prince 
sixty-six  years  of  age,  as  unlikely  to  have  posterity  as  he  was 
to  marry.' 

It  is  needless,  in  view  of  the  attention  already  given  to  these 
points  in  a  previous  chapter,  to  repeat  the  justification  of  the 
King  of  Navarre's  course  in  the  mission  of  Segur  to  the  Prot- 
estant princes  of  Germany,  or  to  notice  his  reference  to  the 
pretended  "  Concordat of  Magdeburg,  and  his  clear  exposition 
of  the  motives  of  the  Huguenots  in  seeking,  as  absolutely  neces- 
sary to  their  self-preservation,  the  prolongation  of  the  term  for 
which  they  held  the  cities  of  refuge.  Those  cities  he  now 
offered  to  restore  to  the  king,  without  awaiting  the  expiration 
of  the  two  additional  years  for  which  his  majesty  had  consented 
to  leave  them  in  Huguenot  hands,  provided  the  heads  of  the 
League  would  restore  the  cities  they  had  seized.  Nay,  he  made 
a  similar  offer  with  regard  to  the  government  of  provinces 
with  which  the  King  of  France  had  been  pleased  to  honor  him. 
Navarre       Ho  closed  tlio  louo;  and  important  document  by  re- 

challenges  .  ^  ^  .  /.  , 

Guise.  questmg  the  monarch  not  to  be  surprised  at  a  further 
offer  which  he  now  made  to  the  Duke  of  Guise,  with  a  desire 
to  stop  the  effusion  of  blood  and  prevent  the  extreme  im- 
poverishment and  desolation  of  France  certain  to  follow  in  the 
course  of  the  war.  This  offer  was  that,  without  resorting  to 
domestic  or  foreign  troops,  whose  participation  would  only  entail 
the  ruin  of  the  poor  people,  the  Duke  of  Guise  (who  now  com- 
manded the  army  of  the  League)  should  settle  the  dispute  by  a 
combat  with  the  King  of  Navarre — either  singly,  or  with  two 
on  either  side,  or  with  ten,  or  twenty,  or  such  other  number  as 
the  duke  might  prefer.  The  arms  would  be  such  as  were  usual 
among  honorable  knights,  and  the  place  either  such  as  his 


'  "Comme  si  le  Roy  n'avoit  plus  qu'uii  an  ou  deux  a  vivre,  pour  lui  susciter 
semeuce,  comme  si  d'un  vieil  estoc  de  celibat  nousdevoitplustostsortirlignee, 
que  d'un  marriage  vigoureux  et  tlorissant  de  sa  Ma;este." 


1585. 


THE  HOLY  LEAGUE. 


341 


majesty  might  designate  within  the  kingdom,  or  a  spot  beyond 
its  borders  of  safe  access  to  both  sides.  It  is  an  honor,  certainly, 
said  Henry  of  X avarre,  which,  in  view  of  the  disparity  between 
our  persons  and  rank,  known  to  all  men,  the  Duke  of  Guise  will 
certainly  embrace ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  my  cousin,  the 
Prince  of  Conde,  and  I  shall  esteem  it  a  piece  of  good  fortune 
by  our  blood  to  redeem  the  king,  our  sovereign,  from  the  toils 
and  troubles  which  the  League  is  plotting  against  him,  his  State 
from  confusion,  his  nobles  from  ruin,  and  all  his  people  from 
calamity  and  extreme  misery.' 

Such  was  Henry's  famous  Declaration — another  of  the  mas- 
terly productions  of  the  pen  of  Duplessis  Mornay  that  have 
Favorable  im-  ^^ded  to  the  rcuowu  of  the  brave  King  of  Navarre, 
daced^'by'th'e  "^he  paper  was  not  meant  for  the  royal  court  of  Paris 
paper.  aloue,  uor  even  exclusively  for  France,  but  for  the 
civilized  world  entire.  Extraordinary  pains  were  therefore 
taken  to  send  copies  to  all  the  parliaments  and  other  important 
bodies  of  the  kingdom,  while  beyond  its  bounds  every  prince 
who  might  be  supposed  to  sympathize  with  the  Bearnais  in 
the  struggle  upon  which  he  was  entering  received  a  formal 
communication  of  the  document  that  was  to  vindicate  his  course 
in  the  eyes  of  the  world.  Upon  their  minds  and  upon  the 
public  opinion  of  Christendom  it  exerted  an  influence  which  it 
would  be  difficult  to  exaggerate.''  Nor  was  the  favorable  im- 
Guise  declines  presslou  diminished  when  news  arrived  that  the  Duke 
the  challenge.  Quise  had  declined  the  single  combat  with  the 
King  of  Navarre,  and  that  the  futile  attempt  had  even  been 
made  to  suppress  the  publication  of  a  manifesto  so  damaging  to 
tlie  Roman  Catholic  side.'' 


'  "  Declaration  du  Eoy  de  Navarre  contre  les  calomnies  publioes  centre  luy," 
etc.  Text  in  Memoires  de  la  Ligue,  i.  133-163,  and  Memoires  de  Duplessis 
Mornay,  iii.  89-120.  See  also  De  Thou,  vi.  479,  etc. ;  Agrippa  d'Aubigne, 
ii.  425,  426  ;  Recueil  des  choses  memorables,  611-3  ;  letters  of  Busini,  June  25 
and  July  9,  1585,  Negociations  avec  la  Toscane,  iv.  583,  580. 

'-  Memoires  de  Duplessis  Mornay,  iii.  87-89. 

"  Despite  the  king's  prohibition,  all  the  foreign  ambassadors  soon  had  printed 
copies  of  the  manifesto  in  their  possession.  Letter  of  Busini,  July  9,  1585, 
Negociations  avec  la  Toscane,  iv.  580. 


342 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OP  NAVARRE. 


Cn.  V. 


In  most  of  those  that  read  it  the  conviction  was  deepened 
of  Henry  of  Navarre's  inflexible  devotion  to  the  Reformed 
Navarre's  wii-  ffiitli-  There  Were  some,  however,  wlio  interpreted 
illltmcted°ex-'^  othcrwise,  and  saw  in  the  prince's  profession  of 
cites  suspicion,  willingness  to  be  instructed  by  a  legitimate  council 
of  the  Church  only  corroboration  of  their  belief,  based  on  other 
considerations,  that  he  would  yet  be  converted  to  the  faith  of 
the  majority  of  the  French  nation.  Henry  of  Navarre  was  am- 
bitious. Catharine  de'  Medici  was  powerful  and  could  procure 
the  means  of  gratifying  his  ambition,  were  he  but  willing  to 
sacrifice  his  religion.  "  Nothing  is  impossible  to  this  princess," 
wrote  an  enthusiastic  foreigner,  "  especially  with  the  people 
here.  If  there  is  anything  that  influences  men  in  this  world, 
it  is  the  longing  to  possess  and  to  command.  Yoit  may  there- 
fore hold  it  for  a  certainty  that  the  King  of  Navarre,  seeing 
himself  obliged,  as  he  will  be,  will  become  a  Catholic.  God 
grant  that  he  may  not  be  like  those  who  from  Jews  have  be- 
come Christians,  very  few  of  whom  are  ever  found  to  be  of  any 
worth  !  "  '  Now  that  Henry  had  gone  out  of  his  way  to  assev- 
erate his  teachableness  in  matters  of  theology,  it  was  not  un- 
naturally concluded  that  it  would  be  no  difficult  thing  to  induce 
him  to  return  to  the  bosom  of  Mother  Church.  Much  was 
looked  for  from  the  persuasions  of  the  theologians,  and  of  the 
Bishop  of  Auxerre  in  particular,  who  had  been,  or  was  soon  to 
be  despatched  to  hasten  the  nuich-desired  consummation.  Not 
to  speak  of  other  arguments,  there  was  one  thought  to  be  whis- 
pered in  his  ear  that  would  be  likely  to  have  great  weight  with 
him :  "  It  is  much  better  to  be  King  of  France,  eating  fish  on 
Friday,  than  to  be  a  poor  Duke  of  Bearn,  with  liberty  to  eat 
meat  when  he  pleases."  '  Should  Henry  take  advantage  of  the 
propitious  moment  to  proclaim  himself  converted  to  the  Romish 


•  "  E  voglia  Dio  che  non  rassomigli  a  colore  che  di  giudei  si  sono  fatti  cris- 
tiani,  trovandosene  molto  pochi  clie  buoni  sieno."  Letter  of  Cavriana,  July  9, 
1585,  Negociations  avec  la  Toscane,  iv.  614. 

^  "  E  uno  che  li  dira  all'  orecchio;  '  cli'  h  molto  megllo  essere  re  di  Francia 
mangiando  pesce  il  veuerdi  clie  povero  duca  di  Beam  con  la  licenza  di  man- 
giar  came  a  suo  beueplacito. '  "  Letter  of  Cavriaua,  August  4,  1585,  ibid.,  iv. 
023. 


THE  HOLY  LEAGUE. 


343 


faith,  it  was  believed  that  he  would  reap  all  the  advantages  from 
the  present  commotion.  The  seizure  of  arms  by  the  League 
had  already  raised  the  House  of  Bourbon  from  a  position  of 
comparative  neglect  to  the  first  place  in  the  public  attention." 
In  case  of  Henry's  conversion  it  would  be  found  that  the 
Dukes  of  Guise  and  Mayenne  had  been  at  the  pains  of  furnishing 
the  feast  for  the  entertainment  of  the  man  whom  of  all  men  in 
France  they  hated  most.'' 

How  much  significance  ought  to  be  attached  to  the  King  of 
Navarre's  profession  of  willingness  to  be  instructed,  is  a  question 
which  can  be  more  correctly  and  dispassionately  considered  at  a 
later  stage  of  this  history,  when  his  words  on  the  present  occa- 
sion will  naturally  come  into  comparison  with  similar  language 
employed  at  other  critical  junctures.  It  need  only  be  observed 
that  whatever  latitude  may  have  been  allowed  to  Duplessis 
Mornay  in  shaping  the  declaration,  there  can  be  little  or  no 
doubt  that  the  form  in  which  the  King  of  Navarre  expressed 
himself  in  reference  to  the  proposed  instruction  was  prescribed 
by  Henry  himself.' 

So  long  as  there  was  any  hope,  and  even  when  incontroverti- 
ble proofs  came  that  the  King  of  France  had  virtually  sur- 
Navarre-s  rendered  his  own  convictions  to  the  pressure  of  his 
kin'r Ju'y^  unworthy  mother,  and  the  treacherous  counsellors  who 
10, 15S5.  surrounded  him,  Henry  of  Xavarre  continued  his  un- 
grateful task  of  remonstrance.  So  late  as  on  the  tenth  of  July, 
in  a  letter  more  full  of  compassion  for  the  wretched  weakling 
on  the  French  throne  than  of  apprehension  for  himself,  he  re- 
minded the  Yalois  that  the  edict  he  was  about  to  break  was  his 
own  cherished  ordinance,  and  that  the  Guises  and  their  con- 
federates, with  whom  he  was  about  to  be  reconciled,  were  the 
same  persons  whom  he  had  proclaimed  rebels,  the  same  persons 


'  ' '  Credete  che  e  miracolo  di  udire  :  '  Guise  ha  preso  le  armi  contro  il  Re, 
e  la  famiglia  di  Bourbon,  che  era  negletta  e  vilipesa,  risorge.' "  Ibid.,  ubi 
supra. 

-  Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 

'  I  do  not  find  that  the  words  gave  any  dissatisfaction  to  the  king's  fellow- 
Huguenots.  They  took  the  alarm  only  when  they  observed  the  studied  repe- 
tition of  the  profession  in  subsequent  papers  and  speeches. 


344 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.        Cu.  V. 


whose  nefarious  intentions  against  his  person  and  estate  he 
had  expressly  recognized  and  denounced  in  his  letters  to  Navarre 
himself.  He  called  the  monarch's  attention  to  the  writers  own 
offers  of  assistance  which  had  been  neglected,  and  to  the  chal- 
lenge he  had  condescended  to  make  to  his  inferiors  in  rank  and 
men  guilty  of  treason.  "  If,"  he  added,  "  I  shall  have  this  mis- 
fortune (and  I  will  not  yet  believe  it)  that  your  majesty  proceed 
to  the  conclusion  of  this  treaty,  despite  such  conditions  and 
submissions,  breaking  his  edict,  arming  his  rebels  against  his 
state,  against  his  own  blood,  and  against  himself,  I  shall  deplore 
with  my  whole  heart  your  majesty's  condition,  seeing  you 
forced  (in  consequence  of  your  unwillingness  to  make  nse  of 
my  fidelity)  to  the  entire  ruin  of  your  state.  I  shall  deplore 
the  calamities  of  this  realm,  of  which  an  end  will  in  vain  be 
hoped  for  save  in  the  end  of  the  realm  itself.  But  I  shall  con- 
sole myself  in  my  innocence,  in  my  integrity,  in  my  affection 
for  your  majesty  and  your  state,  which  I  would  gladly  have 
saved  at  my  own  peril  from  this  shipwreck ;  but  especially  in 
God,  the  protector  of  my  justice  and  loyalty,  who  will  not 
abandon  me  in  my  need,  nay,  will  redouble  my  courage  and  my 
resources  against  all  my  enemies,  who  are  yours  also." ' 

It  was  too  late.  Three  days  before  the  King  of  Xavarre  in- 
dited his  last  letter  of  remonstrance,  the  terms  upon  which  the 
The  confer-  I^Gague  would  rctuni  to  its  allegiance  had  been  agreed 
mours^juiy  "pou  iu  a  confereucc  between  the  queen  mother,  on 
7, 1585.  ^i^g  Qj^Q  side,  and  the  Cardinals  of  Bourbon  and  Guise 
and  the  Dukes  of  Guise  and  Mayenne,  on  the  other,  held  in  the 
little  town  of  Nemoui's.  From  this  circumstance  the  royal  or- 
dinance in  which  the  results  of  the  conference  were  legally  set 
^  forth,  although  signed  and  published  in  Paris,  on  the  eighteenth 
of  July,  1585,  has  come  down  in  history  under  the  designation 
of  "  the  Edict  of  Nemours." 

In  this  fatal  decree,  fruitful  source  of  misery  and  bloodshed, 
Henry  was  made  to  declare,  by  way  of  preamble,  that  the 


'  Henry  of  Navarre  to  Henry  III.,  Nerac,  July  9,  1585,  Memoires  de  la 
Ligue,  i.  192-5  ;  Memoires  de  Duplessis  Mornay,  iii.  141-5,  etc. ;  De  Thou,  vi. 
484. 


1585. 


THE  EDICT  OP  NEMOURS. 


345 


method  of  mildness  which  he  had  been  trying  had  proved  as 
ineffectual  for  the  restoration  of  unity  in  religion  and  of  a  stable 
peace  among  his  subjects,  as  the  previous  method  of  war  and 
The  intoier-  f^rco ;  wliereforc  he  recognized  that,  if  human  fore- 
NemoOTs  °^  sight  is  feeble  in  all  matters,  especially  is  it  so  in  every- 
jniy  18, 1585.  thing  that  concerns  religion.  The  cardinal  prescrip- 
tions of  the  edict  were  the  following :  That  there  should  hence- 
forth be  no  exercise  of  the  "  new  so-called  Reformed  religion  " 
in  France,  on  pain  of  death  and  confiscation  of  property ;  that 
all  preceding  edicts  of  pacification  be  abrogated ;  that  all  Prot- 
estant ministers  leave  the  kingdom  within  one  month  after  the 
publication  of  this  law  ;  that  all  adherents  of  the  "  new  "  religion 
either  embrace  the  Roman  Catholic  religion  before  the  expira- 
tion of  six  months  or  leave  the  kingdom  ;  that  all  ofl&ces  and 
dignities  be  taken  avvay  from  Protestants,  the  "  chambres  mi- 
parties"  and  tri-parties  "  be  abolished,  and  the  cities  of  secu- 
rity be  restored  to  the  king.  The  edict  forbade,  however,  any 
resort  to  violence.  It  forgave  the  members  of  the  League  all 
their  recent  acts  of  hostility,  for  the  reason  that  those  acts  had 
been  the  fruits  of  their  zeal  and  affection  for  the  maintenance 
of  the  Catholic,  Apostolic,  and  Roman  religion.  It  prescribed 
that  the  present  law  should  not  only  be  published  everywhere, 
but  be  indorsed  by  the  solemn  oath  of  all  classes  of  royal  offi- 
cers and  judges.  The  prescriptive  ordinance  was  to  be  "  a 
thing  firm  and  stable  forever,"  and,  in  unconscious  irony,  this 
latest  of  enactments  in  the  rapid  succession  of  the  contradictory 
legislation  of  France  was  styled — as  its  predecessors  had  been 
styled — "  a  perpetual  and  irrevocable  edict." ' 

The  Guises  and  their  confederates  of  the  League  had  received 
plenary  pardon  and  absolution  from  the  king  in  his  public  edict, 
and  all  their  deeds  of  very  questionable  piety  and 

The  conduct  i  r  •/ 

oftheGuiseR  pretty  distiuct  treason  had  been  "avowed"  and  set 

approved.  i  •  i 

down  m  the  category  of  praiseworthy  acts  of  zeal  for 
the  Roman  Catholic  faith.  It  was  very  convenient  for  conspir- 
ators of  such  known  selfishness  to  appear  in  the  eyes  of  the 


'  The  text  of  the  Edict  of  Nemours  is  given  in  the  Memoires  de  Nevers,  i. 
689-692. 


346 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.         Cu.  V. 


world  as  the  most  disinterested  of  patriots  and  as  paragons  of 
Christian  self-abnegation  ;  there  was,  therefore,  no  provision 
for  any  material  advantage  to  be  derived  from  the  persecution 
inauijurated  against  the  Protestants — at  least  in  the  document 
intended  for  the  public  eye.  But  forgiveness  was  not  precisely 
wliat  the  heads  of  the  League  wanted,  and  substantial  fruits 
would  certainly  give  great  zest  to  the  victory  just  obtained. 
Practical  ad-  Tliese  fruits  Were  secured  in  the  protocol  which  had 
cured"by  the  ^ecn  signcd  by  Catharine  de  Medici  and  the  Guises 
League.  Xcmours  elcvcu  days  before.    Each  of  the  princes 

who,  a  brief  month  earlier,  had  closed  their  "  requeste  "  by  of- 
ferins:  the  kins;  to  resiojn  into  his  hands  all  the  offices  and  dignities 
conferred  upon  them  by  him  or  his  predecessors  and  to  retire 
into  private  life,  content  with  the  consciousness  of  having  con- 
tributed to  an  excellent  work  for  France,  now  took  good  care  to 
stipulate  for  a  fresh  accession  of  power  and  military  protection. 
Cardinal  Bourbon  was  to  receive  the  City  of  Soissons  for  his 
security  and  a  hundred  men,  horse  and  foot,  as  his  body-guard. 
To  Guise  fell  not  less  than  four  towns — Yerdun,  Toul,  Saint 
Dizier,  and  Chalons  ;  to  Mayenne,  Dijon  and  Beaune  ;  to  Au- 
male.  Saint  Esprit  de  Rue  ;  and  so  on  through  the  list.  More- 
over, the  king  assumed  the  payment  of  the  sums  expended  by 
the  heads  of  the  League  in  bringing  into  France  foreign  troops 
to  assist  them  (these  sums  amounted  to  two  hundred  thousand 
crowns),  and  released  them  from  the  obligation  of  restoring  the 
sums  they  had  taken  from  the  general  receipts  of  the  kingdom, 
amounting  to  over  one  hundred  thousand  crowns  more.'  It 
was  poor  comfort  to  the  king  that  these  princes  and  noble- 
men who  had  complained  so  bitterly  of  the  detention  of  the 
The  Guises  cities  of  refuge  by  the  Huguenots  and  were  now  so 
leil^^eranli  ^^^ady  to  demand  cities  for  themselves,  faithfully 
.■vssociations.  promised  to  restore  these  cities  to  the  king  in  five 
years.'  True,  the  signataries  pledged  themselves  at  the  same 
time  to  give  up  all  leagues  and  associations  within  or  without 

'  Eecueil  des  choses  memorables,  615. 

'  "Articles  accordez  a  Nemours,  an  nom  du  Roi,  par  la  Roine  sa  mere,  avec 
les  Princes  et  Seigneurs  de  la  Ligue,  en  presence  du  Due  de  Lorraine."  Me- 
moires  de  Nevers,  i.  686-9. 


1585. 


THE  EDICT  OF  NEMOURS. 


347 


the  kingdom,  if  they  had  entered  into  any;'  but  tlie  one  en- 
gagement was  as  honestly  assumed  as  the  other.  The  sequel 
proved,  at  least,  that  no  member  of  the  League  ever  voluntarily 
surrendered  a  single  city  which  he  could  by  any  means  retain, 
and  tJiat  the  intrigues  of  Guise  and  his  friends  with  each  other, 
and  of  Guise,  in  behalf  of  all,  with  the  King  of  Spain  and  his 
agents  and  governors  in  the  Xethcrlands  and  elsewhere  wei-e 
pursued  without  intermission  and  with  no  apparent  qnalms  of 
conscience. 

On  the  eighteenth  of  July,  the  king  proceeded  in  person  to 
the  "  Palais,"  to  enjoin  upon  the  Parliament  of  Paris  to  enter  up- 
on its  registers  the  new  ordinance.    "  My  nncle,"  said 

The  king  or-  .  .  . 

dersthcpar-  hc  to  Cardinal  Bourbon,  who  ioyfully  accompanied 

liament  to  i    //         •  • 

register  the    ]um  on  tliis  wclcomc  errand,  "  against  my  conscience, 

edict.  '        o  t/  ' 

but  very  willingly,  have  I  heretofore  come  to  this 
place  to  publish  the  edicts  of  pacification,  because  they  were  to 
conduce  to  the  relief  of  my  people.  JSTow,  I  am  about  to  pub- 
lish the  edict  revoking  them,  and,  in  so  doing,  I  shall  act  in  ac- 
cordance with  my  conscience,  but  contrary  to  my  will,  inas- 
much as  upon  the  publication  of  it  depends  the  ruin  of  my 
state  and  people." '  Meantime  of  external  manifestations  of 
approval  there  was  no  lack.  In  the  assembly  of  learned  and 
prudent  judges,  it  is  true  that  more  than  one  dared  to  raise  his 
voice  in  fruitless  opposition  to  an  instrument  which  at  one 
stroke  completely  changed  the  relations  of  a  very  important 
part  of  the  population  of  France  in  the  eyes  of  the  law,  and 
converted  a  religion  until  now  tolerated,  if  not  protected,  into 
a  proscribed  faith.'    But  the  populace,  thoughtless  of  the  con- 


'  "  Et  outre  ce  se  soiit  departis  et  departent  des  a  present  de  toute.«  ligues 
et  associations  dedans  et  dehors  le  royaume,  si  ancunesy  en  ont. "  Ibid.,  ubi 
supra. 

-  Lestoile,  i.  187  ;  Letters  d'Estienne  Pasquier  (Ed.  of  Lyons,  1G07),  fols. 
423,  424. 

^  In  the  remonstrance  whicli  was  ofYered,  three  months  later,  to  tlie  royal 
declaration  of  October  7,  and  to  which  attention  will  be  given  in  the  next 
chapter,  the  judges  say  :  "  S'il  eust  pleu  a  Dieu  que  les  raisons  qui  furent 
discourues  en  vostre  presence  sur  la  publication  de  I'Edict  de  Juillet  passe, 
eussent  pen  penetrer  jusques  a  I'aureille  de  la  patience  et  bonne  afifection  que 


31S 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AXD  HEXRY  OF  NAVARRE. 


Cii.  V. 


sequences,  and  dreiiniing  little  of  the  torrents  of  blood  which 
were  to  flow,  as  well  in  Paris  as  in  the  provinces,  greeted  the 
monarch  on  his  return  from  the  chambers  of  parliament  with 
loud  cries  of  '*  Vive  le  roi ! — cries  to  which  his  ears  had  not 
been  of  late  much  accustomed.  Henry  of  Yalois,  on  his  part, 
succeeded  tolerably  well  in  dissembling.  The  day  of  sweet  re- 
venge would  some  time  come.  For  the  present  he  was  content 
with  having  compelled  the  judges  to  come  to  the  solemn 
pageant  of  the  registry  of  the  Edict  of  Xemours  dressed,  con- 
tvarj  to  custom,  in  red  gowns.  It  was  no  crazy  man's  freak. 
An  act  destined  to  be  productive  of  the  butchery  of  so  many  in- 
nocent men,  women,  and  children  could  most  appropriately  be 
performed  in  clothing  of  the  color  of  blood.  Those  were  not 
mistaken  who  interpreted  the  royal  command  as  an  evil  omen, 
and  as  indicative  of  settled  animosity  against  the  persons  who 
had  constrained  the  king  to  embrace  a  distasteful  policy.' 


vostre  Majeste  avoit  accoustumee  de  reserver  a  la  voix  de  ceste  compagnie, 
uous  ne  serions  maintenant  en  ceste  extremite."    Memoires  de  la  Ligue,  i.  24.>. 

'  "Memoire  trouve  entre  ceux  de  Monsieur  de  Xevers,"  Memoires  de 
Nevers,  i.  639. 


1585. 


PROSCRIPTION  OF  THE  HUGUENOTS. 


349 


CHAPTEK  YI. 

PROSCRIPTION  OF  THE  HUGUENOTS,  AND  EXCOMMUNICATION  OF 
HENRY  OF  NAVARRE. 

The  repeal  of  the  Edicts  of  Pacification  was  no  child's  play. 
Even  should  the  Huguenots  ultimately  succeed  in  securing  a  re- 
A  difficult  newal  of  these  laws,  or  in  extorting  from  the  enemy  the 
fronts thr"'  recognition  of  at  least  a  part  of  their  just  claims,  it 
Huguenots.  (,Q^'^[^[  ]jq  hoped  that  the  goal  of  their  desires  would 
be  reached  without  a  protracted  and  bloody  struggle.  "  If  the 
king  has  consented  to  the  revocation  of  our  edict,"  Henry  of 
Kavarre  exclaimed,  on  hearing  a  rumor  of  the  approaching 
catastrophe,  "he  has  certainly  given  us  enough  work  to  do  for 
the  rest  of  our  lives." '  However  fully  the  Bearnais  and  his 
fellow  Huguenots  may  have  endeavored  to  prepare  themselves 
for  the  impending  blow,  the  news  of  the  actual  surrender  of  the 
French  king  to  the  exorbitant  demands  of  the  League  produced 
a  marvellous  effect  upon  them.  The  story  that,  in  the  single 
niglit  succeeding  the  announcement,  the  hair  of  the  valiant 
King  of  ^Navarre  turned  half  white,  may  not  be  suflBciently  at- 
tested to  claim  our  belief  ;  but  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  tidings 
appeared  so  terrible  as  to  demand  instantaneous  action  on  his 
part. 

Happily  the  Huguenots  were  not  destitute  of  powerful  sym- 
pathy even  within  the  kingdom.  Their  former  ally,  Henry  of 
Montmorency,  now  completely  reconciled,  in  view  of  the  com- 
mon danger  threatening  all  true  Frenchmen,  had  been  more  than 
once  consulted  during  the  past  few  weeks.  Now  a  more  formal 
conference  took  place  between  him  and  the  King  of  Is  avarre,  on 
the  confines  of  their  respective  provinces  of  Languedoc  and 

'  "Qui  seroit  bien  nous  tailler  de  la  besogne  pour  le  reste  de  nos  vies." 
Henry  of  Navarre  to  Segur,  June  10,  1585,  Lettres  missives,  ii.  75. 


350 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.       Ch.  VI. 


Guyenne,  in  the  little  town  of  Saint  Paul  de  Cade-jours.'  The 
result  of  their  deliberations  was  given  to  the  world  in  a  "  Dec- 
laration and  Protestation,"  made  in  the  name  of  the  two 
noblemen  and  of  the  Prince  of  Conde,  "  respecting  the  peace 
made  with  the  members  of  the  House  of  Lorraine,  heads  and 
principal  authors  of  the  League,  to  the  prejudice  of  the  House 
of  France." " 

Whatever  uncertainty  might  attend  the  arms  of  the  Hugue- 
nots in  the  successive  contests  in  which  they  were,  for  more  than 
thirty  years,  compelled  to  take  part,  no  such  doubt  invested  the 
exploits  of  their  pens  in  the  discussions  to  which  those  con- 
tests incidentally  gave  rise.  Here  the  Protestants,  whether 
professed  theologians  or  secular  diplomatists,  rarely  failed  to 
exhibit  their  remarkable  intellectual  superiority  to  the  antag- 
onists with  whom  they  had  to  deal. 

Kever  had  the  good  fortune  of  Llenry  of  jS'avarre,  in  pos- 
sessing so  able  an  advocate  as  Duplessis  Mornay,  been  more 
J  .  ^  ^  conspicuous  than  upon  the  present  occasion.  The 
tion document  drawn  up  by  him  in  the  name  of  the  asso- 
and  Mont^  '  ciated  princes  Avas  one  of  that  kind  of  papers  which 

moreucy.  n      i  •  i 

opponents  generally  deem  it  more  prudent  to  ignore 
than  attempt  to  answer.  The  intrigues  of  the  ambitious  family 
of  Guise,  which  never  could  conceive  of  peace  even  in  the  time 
of  the  most  profound  external  peace,  were  passed  in  review, 
from  the  reign  of  the  second  Francis  down  to  the  present  mo- 
ment. The  sum  and  substance  of  their  designs  was  shown  to 
be  the  extinction  of  the  royal  House  of  France,  and  the  appro- 
priation of  the  crown  by  themselves  ;  and,  as  means  to  this  end, 
the  division  of  the  kingdom,  the  fostering  of  troubles,  the  en- 
feebling of  the  nobles,  the  abasement  of  the  greatness  and  au- 


'  Saint  Paul  de  Cade-jous.  or  Cap  de  Joiix,  is  situated  in  the  modern  Depart- 
ment of  Tarn,  three  leagues  above  Lavaur  on  the  river  Agout. 

^  "  Declaration  et  protestation  du  Roi  de  Navarre,  de  mouseigneur  le  Prince 
de  Conde,  et  de  Monsieur  le  Due  de  Montmorency,  sur  la  paix  faicte  <avec  ceux 
de  la  maison  de  Lorraine,  chefs  et  principaux  autheurs  de  la  Ligue,  an  pre- 
judice de  la  maison  de  France."  Memoiresde  la  Ligue,  i.  201-219  ;  Memoires 
de  Duplessis  Mornay,  iii.  1.j9-182.  See  also  De  Thou,  vi.  488,  and  Recueil 
des  choses  memorables,  OIG. 


1585. 


PROSCRIPTION  OF  THE  HUGUENOTS. 


351 


tliority  of  the  princes.  Meanwhile  it  was  part  of  their  plan  to 
manage  always  to  retain  arms  in  their  own  hands  for  the  pur- 
pose of  gaining  new  partisans  and  oppressing  their  enemies. 
The  inconsistency  and  absurdity  of  tlie  attitude  the  Guises  had 
assumed  in  the  present  crisis  were  particularly  commented 
upon.  They  spoke  of  exterminating  heresy,  whereas  the  primi- 
tive Christians  made  war  upon  it  by  means  of  councils,  and  the 
King  of  Xavarre  offered  to  submit  to  a  council,  and  declared 
his  readiness  to  be  instructed  by  it,  and  to  acquiesce  in  its  de- 
cisions. They  demanded  certain  reforms  in  the  government  of 
the  state,  which,  according  to  the  ancient  statutes  of  France,  must 
be  referred  to  the  states  general ;  and  the  King  of  l^avarre  had 
proclaimed  his  willingness  to  be  bound  by  the  result  of  the  de- 
liberations of  the  three  orders  when  convened  by  his  majesty. 
They  demanded  that  the  King  of  Kavarre  and  the  Huguenots 
should  give  up  the  cities  of  security,  despite  the  prolongation 
of  their  term  of  tenure  by  express  grant  of  tlie  King  of  France ; 
and  the  King  of  Navarre  had  replied,  offering  to  restore  the 
cities  to  his  majesty,  provided  only  that  the  Guises  would  sur- 
render the  cities  unlawfully  seized  by  them. 

The  King  of  ^savarre  and  the  Prince  of  Conde,  for  them-  ^ 
selves,  declared  that  they  had  no  intention  to  interfere  with  the 
Koman  Catholic  religion  or  its  professors,  "  having  always  been 
of  the  opinion  that  men's  consciences  ought  to  be  f i-ee ;  "  '  while 
as  to  their  own  religion,  they  proclaimed  that  they  were  ready 
to  submit  to  a  council  of  the  chuich.  They  tlierefore  invited 
all  good  and  true  Frenchmen,  both  ecclesiastics  and  laymen,  to 
join  their  standards,  and  particularly  exhorted  all  members  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church  to  take  as  their  guide  and  example  ^ 
the  Duke  of  Montmorency,  a  peer  of  France  and  the  first  officer 
of  the  crown,  himself  a  Roman  Catholic,  and  a  nobleman  of 
known  prudence.  As  for  the  heads  of  the  League,  the  three 
associated  princes  held  them  for  the  enemies  of  the  king,  the 
royal  house,  and  the  commonwealth,  denounced  by  the  king 
himself  in  letters  heretofore  verified  by  the  parliaments  of  the 
realm.     "  As  such,"  said  oSTavarre,  Conde,  and  Montmorency, 


'  "  Ayans  tousjours  este  d'opinion  que  les  consciences  devoyeutestrelibres." 


352  THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.      Cu.  VI. 


"  we  shall  wage  war  with  them  to  the  utmost,  and  shall  ex- 
tej-minate  them  by  all  means  in  our  power.'' ' 

I^or  were  these  brave  words  spoken  merely  for  effect.  It  is 
evident  that,  taking  in  the  gravity  of  the  situation  and  wearied 
Secret  corre-  ^^^^  length  of  the  period  of  uncertainty  to  which 
spondenceof  ^^[^q  malice  of  their  enemies  condemned  them,  the 

the  King  o£  ' 

Navarre.  King  of  Xavarrc,  at  least,  was  resolved  to  invoke  the 
aid  of  all  Protestant  Christendom,  and  make  one  supreme  effort 
for  the  settlement  of  the  religious  dispute  in  France  upon  some 
fair  and  equitable  basis.  In  a  remarkable  letter  which  has  come 
down  to  us,  sent  on  the  very  day  after  the  publication  of  the 
joint  declaration,  by  Du  Pin,  secretary  of  the  King  of  Navarre, 
to  Segur,  who  was  still  acting  in  his  master's  behalf  in  Ger- 
many, we  have  some  significant  hints.  The  words  are  the  more 
striking  because  of  the  extraordinary  pains  taken  to  secure 
secrecy ;  the  whole  letter  being  written  with  sympathetic  ink 
between  the  lines  of  another  letter  written  with  ordinary  ink. 
The  secretary,  evidently  writing  at  Henry's  dictation,  first  bids 
Segur  to  give  no  credit  to  any  rumors  that  may  reach  him  of 
the  probability  that  peace  may  be  concluded  by  depiities  sent 
by  the  king,  or  even  by  the  queen  mother  coming  in  person ; 
"  for,"  says  he,  "  we  are  resolved  with  this  blow  to  put  an  end 
to  our  toils  and  to  the  perfidy  of  our  enemies,  and  never  to  lay 
down  our  arms  until  they  shall  have  been  exterminated,  and  to 
conclude  no  peace  save  by  the  advice  of  the  Christian  princes 
who  shall  join  with  us."    Thereupon  he  proceeds  to  sketch  a 


'  "  Leur  feront  la  guerre  a  toute  outrance  et  les  extermineront  par  tous 
moyens."  To  this  time  belongs  a  letter  of  Henry  of  Navarre  to  Segur,  evi- 
dently written  after  the  Edict  of  Nemours,  to  which  the  editor  of  the  Lettres 
Missives  (ii.  20)  has  erroneously  given  the  date  of  March  25,  1585.  "  Je  suys 
venu  en  ce  lieu,  oil  mou  cousin,  monsieur  de  Montmorency,  m'est  venu  trou- 
ver,  pour  conferer  ensemble  de  ce  qu'il  est  besoing  de  faire  sur  ceste  publica- 
tion d'un  iiouveau  et  cruel  edict  revocatif  de  celui  de  pacification.  ...  Ce 
qui  est  cause  que  mou  diet  cousin  et  moy  avons  prins  ensemble  uue  resolution 
de  nous  opposer  a  eiix  et  de  leur  courir  sus  et  exterminer,  ou  les  reduire  par 
la  voye  des  armes,  et  pour  ce  faire,  appeler  a  nostre  secours  tous  les  princes 
chrestiens  .  .  .  estant  le  diet  edict  une  declaration  de  guerre  ouvertement 
contre  tous  ceulx  qui  font  profession  de  la  Religion  et  couverte  centre  I'Estat 
et  maison  de  France,"  etc. 


1585. 


PROSCRIPTION  OP  THli  HUGUENOTS. 


353 


most  decided  policy.  "  They  must  be  induced  to  embark  in 
the  undertaking  as  fully  as  possible,  and  colonies  must  be  set- 
tled in  this  kingdom  of  those  who  shall  consent  to  come,  in 
order  that  they  may  be  rewarded  and  advantaged."  We  shall 
have  Catholic  princes,  our  relations,  to  join  us.  There  are  many 
Catholics,  that  have  perceived  the  designs  of  our  enemies  and 
their  ambition  and  false  dealings,  who  will  help  us.  But  our 
trust  is  in  God,  who  will  bless  our  labors,  and  will  favor  the 
justice  of  our  cause."  ^ 

Great  at  this  moment  was  the  contrast  between  the  courts  of 
the  two  kings.  In  the  little  court  of  the  Bearnais,  barren  of 
^  ^  external  pomp  and  poor  in  money,  all  was  promptness 

tweenthe      and  dccision.    From  Navarre  himself  down  to  the 

two  kings.        1         1  1  .  1 

liumblest  retamer,  not  a  man  but  was  resolved  to 
win  a  way  to  victory  though  suffering  and  blood  might  lie 
between.  A  common  danger,  impending  over  all,  inspired  all 
with  a  courage  which  was  a  true  presage  of  ultimate  success. 
At  Paris,  bitter  hatred  glowed  beneath  the  surface,  and  a  slight 
accident  might  at  any  instant  bring  the  burning  embers  into 
open  view.  Henry  of  Valois  could  scarcely  conceal  his  anger. 
A  second  time  he  had  been  compelled  to  act  in  a  manner  dia- 
metrically opposed  to  his  purpose  and  desires.  Once — nine 
years  ago — the  Huguenots  had  forced  him  to  gi-ant  them  a  peace 
on  conditions  which  he  regarded  as  insupportable.  Kow  it  was 
the  professed  friends  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  who  had, 
in  the  eyes  of  the  whole  world,  imposed  upon  him  a  war  of  ex- 
termination to  be  waged  against  the  Huguenots,  from  which  he 
looked  for  no  fruits  but  humiliation  or  ruin.  Were  success  to 
crown  the  royal  arms,  what  could  be  expected  but  that  all  the 
glory  should  be  appropriated  by  Henry  of  Guise  and  his  am- 
bitious house;  if  defeat,  what  but  the  complete  ruin  of  the 
royal  family  and  the  shameful  loss  of  the  last  vestiges  of  a  once 
glorious  patrimony  ?    If  the  king  had  never  rested  until  the 


'  "II  les  y  fault  embarquer  le  plus  qu'on  pourra  et  faire  des  colonies  en  ce 
rovaulme  de  ceux  qui  y  voudiont  venir,  afin  qu'ilz  soient  recompensez  et  ac- 
commodez." 

Du  Pin  to  Segur,  August  11,  1585,  Lettres  missives  de  Henri  IV.,  ii.  116. 
Vol.  I.— 23 


354 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENTIY  OF  NAVARRE.       Cu.  VI. 


hateful  provisions  of  the  Peace  of  Monsieur  were  recalled,  it 
was  certainly  unlikely  that  he  would  forget  the  contempt  with 
which  he  had  been  treated  by  the  heads  of  the  Holy  League. 

Upon  the  very  day  on  which  the  secretary  of  the  King  of 
Xavarre  recorded  the  unalterable  determination  of  the  Hu- 
guenots, once  for  all  to  make  an  end  of  the  perfidy  of  their 
treacherous  enennes.  and  sussiested  as  possible  the 

The  king  de-  '  e^"^  ^       •        •  -r^  t 

mandsmoney  extreme  resort  to  a  system  or  colonization  on  French 
risians  and  soil,  the  King  of  Frauce  invited  three  or  four  repre- 
t  e  clergy.  gentative  men  to  meet  him  in  the  palace  of  the 
Louvre.  They  were  the  Prevot  des  marchands,  the  principal 
municipal  officer  of  Paris,  the  first  and  second  presidents  of 
the  parliament,  the  Prevut  de  Xotre  Dame,  and  the  Cardinal 
of  Guise.  The  cardinal  had  been  specially  requested  to  be 
present.  The  royal  guests  were  not  long  left  in  doubt  respect- 
ing the  reason  of  the  summons.  Henry  began  by  expressing 
to  them  his  great  satisfaction  with  the  step  he  had  so  recently 
taken,  by  the  advice  of  all  his  servants,  and,  in  particular,  of 
those  present,  in  repealing  his  edict  of  pacification.  If  he  had 
been  slow  to  come  to  this  decision,  he  confessed  it  was  only 
because  he  had  entertained  grave  doubts  whether  the  present 
determination  could  be  carried  into  effect  with  any  more  ease 
than  the  previous  attempt  of  the  same  kind.  Xow,  however, 
seeing  himself  assisted  by  so  many  persons,  from  whose  fidelity 
he  felt  the  assurance  that  they  would  persevere  in  the  execu- 
tion, he  rejoiced  with  them  and  begged  them  all  to  co-operate 
with  him  in  devising  the  best  methods  of  carrying  forward  to 
a  happy  issue  the  counsel  which  they  themselves  had  given 
him.  He  would  lay  before  them  his  plan  and  his  forces.  He 
designed  to  set  on  foot  thi-ee  armies,  one  for  Guyenne,  a  second 
to  retain  near  himself,  and  the  third  to  prevent  the  entrance  of 
the  foreign  auxiliaries  of  the  Huguenots,  whom,  whatever  might 
be  said  to  the  contrary,  he  knew  to  be  in  readiness  to  march. 
It  was  no  time  to  think  of  the  means  of  war  when  one  had  the 
enemy  upon  one's  hands,  nor  of  making  peace  when  one  was 
the  stronger.  He  reminded  them  that  it  would  be  too  late  to 
cry  for  peace  when  the  windmills  about  Paris  should  be  in 
flames,  and  declared  that,  having  accepted  the  advice  of  others 


1585. 


PROSCRIPTION  OF  THE  HUGUENOTS. 


355 


contrary  to  liis  own  judgment,  he  intended  not  to  spare  him- 
self, as  he  had  in  fact  suflSciently  proved  ah-eady,  by  stripping 
himself  almost  to  his  very  shirt.  Since  they  had  not  believed 
him  in  the  matter  uf  maintaining  the  peace,  it  was  only  reason- 
able that  they  should  help  him  in  maintaining  the  war.  Kext, 
addressing  each,  of  the  persons  before  him,  he  began  with  the 
first  president  of  parliament,  whom  he  praised  for  the  excel- 
lence of  the  long  harangue  which  he  had  recently  delivered 
in  favor  of  the  revocation  of  the  edict,  and  calmly  informed 
him  that,  under  the  extraordinary  circumstances  in  which 
France  was  placed,  the  judges  must  expect  no  payment  of  their 
salaries,  as  such  a  thing  would  be  quite  out  of  the  question  so 
long  as  the  war  continued.  Next  the  provost  was  quietly  re- 
minded that  the  city  of  Paris,  having  exhibited  unusual  demon- 
strations of  joy  at  the  repeal,  would  be  expected  at  once  to 
furnish  two  hundred  thousand  crowns  ;  and  the  provost  was 
commanded  to  call  a  meeting  of  the  municipalit}',  on  the  mor- 
row, for  the  imposition  of  this  sum.  The  expenses  of  the  war 
would,  the  king  calculated,  amount  to  four  hundred  thousand 
crowns  monthly.  For  the  first  month,  he  informed  Cardinal 
Guise,  to  whom  he  now  turned  with  an  expression  indicative  of 
anger,  he  proposed  to  provide  with  the  help  of  the  purses  of 
private  individuals.  Hereafter  he  would  look  to  the  clergy  to 
aid  him  every  month  from  the  resources  of  the  Church.  In 
taking  this  course  he  did  not  think  that  he  did  anything  con- 
trary to  his  conscience,  nor  did  he  intend  to  wait  for  the  au- 
thorization or  consent  of  the  pope.  It  was  the  heads  of  the 
clergy  that  had  been  most  active  in  pushing  him  to  undertake 
this  war,  and  it  was  necessary  that  they  should  bear  a  part  of 
the  expense.  He  had  no  mind  to  ruin  himself  alone  in  its 
prosecution. 

Here  Henry  paused  to  listen  to  the  replies  of  his  guests,  who, 
as  may  be  imagined,  were  not  slow  in  offering  objections  to  the 
The  king's  c^^mands  made  upon  the  classes  they  represented.  In 
significant     tlic  cud,  the  kino;  lost  his  assumed  patience,  and,  with 

observation.  r       i  i  i  •  i 

more  frankness  than  a  due  regard  to  policy  might 
have  dictated,  exclaimed :  "  It  would,  then,  have  been  better  to 
believe  me.    I  fear  much  that,  in  striving  to  ruin  the  '  Preche ' 


356  THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.      Ch.  VI. 


(meaning  Protestantism),  we  shall  greatly  imperil  the  'Mass.'" 
And  he  added,  "  It  would  be  better  to  make  peace  ;  and  yet  I 
do  not  know  whether  the  Huguenots  will  be  willing  to  accept 
it  when  we  choose  to  make  the  offer."  ' 

Ordinarily  the  king  was  not  so  imprudent  in  liis  expressions, 
and  seemed  resolved  to  dei'ive  the  greatest  advantage  possible 
from  the  position  into  wliich  he  had  been  forced  against 
France  and  his  Will.  "  1  am  resolved  in  every  way,  said  lie,  "  to 
epope.  destroy  the  Huguenots  ;  else  they  will  have  to  destroy 
me."  And  the  royal  determination  was  strengthened  by  the  papal 
nuncio's  promises  of  money  to  be  furnished  by  liis  master  to  help 
carry  on  the  war.  Is  ot  content  with  this,  Sixtus  the  Fifth  had 
furnished  the  League  with  a  brief,  absolving  the  confederates 
from  the  obligation  of  an}"  oatli  which  they  might  have  taken  ; 
and  it  was  reported  that,  by  a  second  brief,  sentence  of  excom- 
munication was  pronounced  upon  all  persons  that  favored  the 
Huguenots,  and  the  offer  of  plenary  indulgence  was  made  to 
every  man  who  should  give  the  new  enterprise  his  countenance 
and  support." 

Although  war  had  now  been  formally  declared,  and  the 
Huguenots  were  to  be  destroyed  from  the  face  of  the  earth. 
Royal  embassy  soHcitatious  of  the  coui't  addressed  to  the  King  of 
to  .^eek  Na-     JSJ^avaiTe  did  not  cease.  On  the  twentv-fifth  of  August 

varre  s  con-  ^  ci 

version.  there  appeared  at  Xerac  ambassadors  from  Paris — 
Lenoncourt,  formerly  a  favorite  of  Antoine  of  Bourbon,  Hen- 
ry's father,  and  soon  to  be  made  a  cardinal  by  Sixtus  the  Fifth, 
and  two  or  three  laymen  of  good  standing  and  repute.  The 
arguments  they  offered  and  the  replies  of  the  Bearnais  need 
not  here  be  recorded.    Thev  were  much  the  same  as  those  that 


'  "II  s'escria,  'II  eust  doncques  mieulx  valu  me  croire.  J'ay  grand  peur 
qu'en  voulaut  perdre  le  Presclie  nous  ne  liazardions  fort  la  Messe  ' ;  adjoustant, 
'  II  vaudroit  mieux  faire  la  paix  ;  eucores  ne  s^ay-je  s  ils  la  voudront  recepvoir 
a  nostre  lieure.'"  Harangue  du  roy  faicte  a  Messieurs  de  Paris,  I'onziesme 
d'Aoust  mil  cinq  cents  quatre  vingts  cinq,  in  Memoires  de  la  Ligue,  i.  219-21. 
See,  also,  Recueil  des  choses  memorables,  616,  617,  and  De  Thou,  vi.  (book 
81)  489-91. 

Letter  of  Busiui,  September  30,  1585,  Xegociations  avec  la  Toscane,  iv. 
594. 


PROSCRIPTION  OF  THE  HUGUENOTS. 


357 


had  come  from  the  lips  of  Roman  Catliolics  and  Huguenots 
respectively  at  previoiis  junctures,  and  were  likely  to  be  repeated 
in  future  as  occasion  might  require.  There  was  the  same  pro- 
fuse assurance  of  the  singular  good-will  of  Henry  of  Valois 
toward  his  cousin  of  Xavarre,  and  the  same  anxiety  that  the 
latter  should  remove  all  obstacles  in  the  way  of  the  re-establish- 
ment of  peace  by  becoming  a  Itoman  Catholic.  On  the  other 
hand,  there  were  declarations  of  the  usual  kind  to  the  effect  that 
it  would  be  unseemly  in  Henry  of  Xavarre  to  abandon  the 
Reformed  religion,  in  which  he  had  been  born  and  brought  up, 
and  for  the  defence  of  which  so  much  time  had  been  consumed, 
so  much  blood  freiely  poured  out,  without  having  as  yet  learned 
that  he  was  in  error  on  any  point.  Coupled  with  this  assertion 
came  also  the  customary  assurance  of  the  prince  that  he  would 
always,  in  matters  concerning  his  conscience,  place  in  the  back- 
ground all  considerations  of  honor,  wealth,  or  possible  favor 
which  the  world  might  hold  in  prospect ;  but  that,  nevertheless, 
he  was  ready  to  have  his  errors  pointed  out  to  him  and 

Henry's  readi-  ,      .  ~  -i     r    i      /~^^         ^  tt 

nessto  submit  to  submit  to  a  free  council  of  the  Church.  However, 

to  a  Council.  i      i  r  •  c  t-> 

when  the  envoys  asked  tor  a  suspension  ox  1  rotestant 
worship  during  the  six  months  covered  by  the  prescriptions 
of  the  royal  edict,  and  requested  that  the  cities  of  security 
be  given  up  and  the  foreign  troops  of  the  Huguenots  be 
countermanded,  they  met  with  a  distinct  refusal.  The  King 
of  ^Navarre  said  that  he  neither  could  nor  would  dampen  the 
ardor  of  the  good  friends  who,  at  a  time  of  his  so  great  need, 
had  hastened  to  his  assistance.  Among  other  things,  the 
deputies  brought  an  offer  on  the  part  of  the  queen  mother  to 
meet  the  King  of  Navarre  for  a  conference  at  Champigny 
in  Touraine,  and  meanwhile  to  have  the  royal  armies  re- 
called to  the  northern  bank  of  the  Loire ;  but  the  Huguenot 
prince  fell  in  with  Catharine's  proposal  only  so  far  as  to 
consent  to  come  to  Bergerac.  Doubtless  he  deemed  it,  in 
the  circumstances,  the  part  of  prudence  to  make  no  unneces- 
sary venture ;  Catharine  de'  Medici  could  better  afford  to  come 
one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  farther  in  her  litter,  old  and 
racked  with  gout  though  she  was,  than  could  Henry  of  Navarre 
leave  the  safer  confines  of  Guyenne  and  put  the  broad  prov- 


358 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.       Ch.  VI. 


inces  of  Poitou  and  Angoumois  between  him  and  his  place  of 
retreat.' 

Precisely  the  same  attitude  did  the  King  of  Xavarre  assume 
in  his  more  pi'ivate  connnunications  with  those  who  begged  him 
from  motives  of  prudence,  and  certainly  much  more  sincerely, 
to  avoid  impending  ruin  by  reconciliation  with  Home.  When 
Navarre's  proposals  of  this  kind  were  made  to  him  by  the  Duke 
"e'Duke*of  Moutpensicr — a  prince  whose  father  eight  years 
Montpensier.  ijeforc  was  a  principal  cause  of  the  temporary  failure 
of  the  proscriptive  policy  indorsed  by  the  fir.st  states  general  of 
Blois,  and  wlio  himself  now  showed  great  disinclination  to  lead  a 
royal  army  against  the  southern  Protestants — Henry  of  avarre 
answered  courteously  but  firml}-.  He  instructed  his  envoy  to  tell 
the  duke  that  a  king  who  believed  everything  contained  in  the 
Old  and  Xew  Testaments,  and  held  the  primitive  faith  as  enunci- 
ated by  the  first  four  general  councils,  besides  professing  will- 
ingness to  receive  instruction  from  a  fi*ee  and  general  council 
to  be  held  in  the  future,  was  no  heretic,  and  that  any  papal  ex- 
communication that  might  be  fulminated  against  him  would  be 
a  direct  violation  of  the  liberties  of  the  Gallican  Church.  Hav- 
ing imbibed  the  Reformed  religion  with  his  mother's  milk,  and 
professing  that  religion  in  conformity  with  the  established  laws 
of  the  realm,  it  would  be  good  and  honorable  neither  for  him- 
self, nor  for  his  friends  and  i-elatives,  nor  for  the  king's  subjects, 
that  he  should  lightly  renounce  it,  whether  from  hope,  or  from 
fear  and  constraint.  He  therefore  pronounced  the  true  object 
of  the  League  and  conspiracy  of  the  present  year  to  be,  not  the 
promotion  of  religion,  but  the  overturning  of  the  state  and  the 
usurpation  of  the  crown,  or,  to  say  the  very  least,  the  appro- 
priation of  the  greater  part  of  the  French  dominions.'' 


'  "Propositions  des  deputez  du  Roy,  envoyez  au  Roy  de  Navarre,  avec  la 
responce  de  leur  legation,"  in  Memoires  de  la  Ligue,  i.  233-0  ;  De  Thou,  vi. 
491-3. — Cliampigny,  not  far  from  Chinou,  in  the  present  Department  of  Iiidre 
et  Loire,  is  not  over  a  dozen  miles  south  of  the  river  Loire  ;  Bergerac,  in  the 
Department  of  Dordogue,  is  in  the  same  latitude  as  Bordeaux,  and  about 
sixty  miles  east  of  that  port. 

-  Despatch  of  the  King  of  Navarre  to  M.  de  Pechere,  his  ambassador  to  the 
Duke  of  Montpensier,  Lectoure,  October  30,  1585,  published  for  the  first  time 


1585. 


PROSCRIPTION  OF  THE  HUGUENOTS. 


359 


It  is  time,  however,  that  we  should  turn  to  the  conspirators 
whose  persistent  efforts  to  involve  in  war  a  kingdom  that  had 
enjoyed  a  brief  respite  from  the  horrors  of  carnage  and  desolat- 
ing hostilities  had  at  length  been  crowned  with  success.  It 
will  be  remembered  that  the  Guises  and  their  associated  nobles 
had  pledged  themselves  to  the  king,  in  the  secret  articles  of 
JSTemours,  thenceforth  to  renounce  any  leagues  or  associations, 
either  within  or  without  the  realm,  into  which  they  might  have 
entered.'  It  is  worth  while  to  notice  how  far  these  champions 
of  orthodoxy  and  paragons  of  Catholic  virtue  observed  their 
promise,  or,  indeed,  intended  from  the  beginning  to  observe  it. 

Kot  a  moment  did  Henry  of  Guise  desist  from  his  disloyal 
intercourse  with  Philip  the  Second,  carried  on  through  the  in- 
intrigues  of  strumcntality  of  Bernardino  de  Mendoza,  resident  am- 
Guise  with    bassador  at  Paris.    Isot  for  a  single  instant  did  he 

the  Spanish  f 

ambassador,  (jj-eam  of  suspcuding  the  operation  of  a  compact  that 
recognized  his  relation  as  that  of  a  stipendiary  of  the  King  of 
Spain.  Upon  the  very  day  on  which  Lenoncourt  was  endeavor- 
ing to  influence  the  Bearnais  to  renounce  his  religion,  the  Duke 
of  Guise  was  inditing  a  letter  to  the  Spanish  ambassador.  His 
object  was  to  convey  a  piece  of  news  and  to  proffer  a  request. 
The  news  was  stated  in  these  words :  "  I  have  written  a  de- 
spatch to  Rome  to  Cardinal  Pelleve  and  Father  Claude  (Mat- 
thieu)  to  solicit  with  diligence  the  completion  of  the  tiial, 
already  far  advanced,  of  the  Prince  of  Beam  " — so  these  pa- 
triotic Frenchmen  always  studiously  designated  the  King  of 
Navarre  in  their  correspondence  with  the  Spaniard — "  as  a  re- 
lapsed heretic,  and  his  proscription.  It  is  a  thing  that  is  of 
marvellous  importance  for  the  continuation  of  our  designs,  to 
complete  what  we  have  begun  for  the  extermination  of  their 
religion  and  to  prevent  the  designs  of  a  deceitful  peace."  The 


in  the  Bulletin  de  la  Societe  de  rhistoire  du  Protestantisme  fran9ais,  i.  153, 
154. 

'  See  above,  chapter  v.,  p.  34G. 

-  "Chose  qui  importe  merveilleusement  pour  continuer  noz  desseings,  pour 
mectre  a  fin  ce  que  nous  avous  commeuctj  pour  I'exterminacion  de  leur  reli- 
gion,'' etc. 


3G0 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.       Ch.  VI. 


request  was  for  fifty  thousand  crowns  to  be  sent  in  all  haste  to 
the  "  Princess  of  Beam — Margaret  of  Valois — who  was  ex- 
Margaret  of  pcctecl  to  attract  the  war  into  Gascony  and  thus  add 
aiiyofthe  ^^^^  pcrplexities  of  the  unfortunate  brother-in-law 
League.  ^he  King  of  France.'    This  last  device  seemed  too 

promising  to  be  lost  sight  of ;  so  thought  Guise.  According- 
ly, three  weeks  later,  he  wrote  to  Philip  the  Second  himself, 
extolling  the  prowess  of  Margaret,  who,  from  the  very  com- 
mencement of  the  troubles,  had  joined  the  League,  with  a  good- 
ly number  of  gentlemen,  and  had  opposed  her  husband's  plans. 
It  was  tlii§  peculiar  position  of  the  princess,  in  the  very  midst 
of  the  "  heretics,''  which  had  suggested  to  Guise,  so  he  said,  the 
plan  of  pursuing,  under  cover  of  her  name,  the  realization  of 
the  original  designs  of  the  League.  lie  had  therefore,  until 
now,  borne  all  the  expense,  with  the  help  of  his  associates, 
hoping  that  his  majesty  the  King  of  Spain  would  deign  to 
carry  into  execution  the  plan  laid  down  in  his  last  instructions 
to  Juan  Baptista  de  Tassis."  Happily,  however,  for  the  Hugue- 
nots of  Guyenne  and  for  the  quiet  of  Margaret's  husband, 
Philip  the  Second,  or  his  ministers  imitating  his  illustrious  ex- 
ample, displayed  so  much  of  the  wonted  Spanish  dilatoriness 
that  the  princess  found  herself  bereft  of  men  and  of  money, 
and  was  compelled  to  retreat  from  Agen.  In  fact,  in  their  im- 
patience to  get  rid  of  her,  the  sturdy  burghers  came  near 
throwing  her  over  the  walls.  Thereupon  great  was  the  grief 
of  Guise  and  his  associates,  for  now  Guyenne  was  left  to  the 
mercy  of  "  those  of  the  religion  "  who  could  boast  that  there 
was  no  one  within  the  bounds  of  the  province  to  check  any  of 
their  enterprises.'  Meantime,  Guise  did  not  neglect  to  remind 
his  correspondents  of  the  immense  burden  of  indebtedness  un- 
der which  he  and  his  friends  were  groaning.  The  levy  and 
support  of  three  thousand  reiters,  three  thousand  lansquenets, 


'  Mucins  (Henry  of  Guise)  to  Bernardino  de  Mendoza,  Chalons,  August  25, 
1585,  apud  De  Croze,  i.  349,  350. 

=  Mucius  to  Philip  II.,  September  14,  1.j85,  De  Croze,  i.  350,  351. 

^  Mucius  to  Mendoza,  Chalons,  October  17,  1585,  De  Croze,  i.  360;  Lestoile, 
October,  1585,  i.  191. 


15b5. 


PROSCRIPTION  OF  THE  HUGUENOTS. 


361 


and  eight  thousand  Swiss,  in  addition  to  an  army  of  thirty- 
five  or  forty  thousand  French  troops,  had  entailed  an  expendi- 
ture of  more  than  nine  hundred  thousand  crowns.  There 
was  no  hope  that  any  part  of  this  vast  sum  would  ever  be  re- 
imbursed ;  or  if  repaid,  the  time  would  be  so  distant  that  the 
interest  alone  would  consume  the  whole  payment.' 

As  time  passed,  and  Guise  heard  nothing  more  of  the  publi- 
cation of  the  proposed  brief  or  bull  against  Henry  of  Navarre 
Guise  impa-  — ^^'^  brief  had,  however,  been  published,  although 
tieiit  tor  the    ^[^q  tidings  of  the  glad  event  had  not  reached  the 

exfommuni-  o  o 

Henry o/nb-  ^^^^J  Rheims,  wliero  the  duke  was — he  became 
varre.  more  and  more  impatient.  He  wrote  to  Mendoza  on 
the  first  of  October,  begging  that  Philip  the  Second  should  use 
his  influence  with  Sixtus  to  have  "  the  Prince  of  Bearn  "  and 
his  sister,  together  with  the  Prince  of  Conde,  pronounced  "  here- 
tics, relapsed  persons,  incapable  and  unworthy  of  possessing  any 
lands,'with  excommunication  of  those  who  might  favor  or  treat 
with  them,"  and  indulgence  promised  to  all  who,  in  order  to  ex- 
terminate them,  should  attack  them  or  contribute  funds  for  the 
purpose.'  By  this  brilliant  stroke  of  policy  all  hope  of  re- 
conciliation with  the  heretic  was  to  be  removed.  All  Roman 
Catholics  would  be  deterred  from  entering  into  the  service  of  a 
prince  excommunicated  by  the  head  of  their  Churcli,  and  be 
constrained,  through  fear  of  incurring  ecclesiastical  censures,  to 
wage  war  upon  him.  Then,  in  case  the  King  of  France  should 
be  so  ill-advised  as  to  repeal  the  late  edict  against  the  heretics, 
in  contempt  of  the  pope's  declaration,  there  would  be  just  oc- 
casion given  for  openly  taking  up  arms  to  resist  him.  Then, 
too,  Philip  the  Second  w^ould,  it  was  hoped,  help  in  the  extinc- 
tion of  heresy,  and  indenmify  himself  for  the  trouble  and  ex- 
pense by  seizing  what  little  remained  of  the  former  kingdom  of 
Navarre,  So  did  Guise  purpose  that  the  troubles  of  France 
should  contribute  to  the  aggrandizement  of  Spain,  and  that 
Philip  should  gain  a  footing  on  the  northern  slope  of  the  Pyr- 
enees.' 


'  Mucins  to  Mendoza,  September  14,  1585,  De  Croze,  i.  352,  353. 
2  De  Croze,  i.  357.  ^  Ibid.,  i.  358. 


362 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.      Ch.  VI. 


To  the  success  of  these  designs  but  one  thing  more  was  neces- 
sary :  the  Duke  of  Montmorency  must,  if  possible,  be  detached 
from  the  party  of  the  Husruenots,  where  he  did  not 

Alliance  with  t  i  t  p  f 

Montmorency  bclong,  aiid  be  converted  from  a  friend  mto  an  enemy 

6SS6Dt>iill  to 

the  siiccess  of  of  liis  old  associate,  the  King  of  Xavarre.  Hence,  it 
happened  that  the  Guises,  ancestral  and  natural  rivals 
and  foes  of  the  house  of  the  great  constable,  suddenly  appear 
playing  a  new  part,  and  actually  pleading  the  cause  of  him 
whose  greatness  they  had  for  years  been  attempting  to  pull 
down.  Lest  a  more  direct  effort  to  gain  Montmorency  over 
should  ai'ouse  suspicion,  we  find  Henry  of  Guise,  in  his  secret 
correspondence  with  the  Spanish  ambassador,  entreating  that 
worthy  to  induce  his  master,  the  Duke  of  Savoy,  and  the  pope 
to  unite  in  biinging  about  this  much-desired  consummation. 
Philip's  activit}'  was,  apparently,  to  be  limited  to  a  strenuous 
effort  to  persuade  Sixtus  and  Charles  Emmanuel  to  intercede 
with  Henry  of  Yalois  to  make  such  generous  concessions  to 
Montmorency  that  the  marshal  would  renounce  the  alliance 
with  the  Huguenots.  As  for  Philip,  it  was  probably  deemed 
more  prudent  that  his  hand  in  the  proceedings  should  not  be 
perceived.'  On  this  plan  Guise  counted  much.  With  Mont- 
morency on  the  side  of  the  League,  its  leaders  "  would  be  strong 
enough  to  give  the  law  to  others,"  and  could  prevent  any  other 
road  than  the.right  one  from  being  taken  against  heresy.  That 
road  they  would  pursue  to  the  end  in  spite  of  everybody.  They 
would  never  permit  any  enterprise  to  be  undertaken  against  the 
lands  of  any  Catholic  prince,  and  especially  against  any  posses- 
sion of  his  Catholic  Majesty  the  King  of  Spain.  "  From  him," 
significantly  remarked  Guise,  "  we  should  receive  our  com- 
mands, and  we  should  cause  them  to  be  executed." "  Mean- 
time, while  awaiting  the  results  of  the  pope's  expected  advocacy 
of  Montmorency's  interests.  Guise  was  determined  that  nothing 


'  Mucius  to  Mendoza,  Rheims,  October  1,  1585,  in  De  Croze,  i.  358. 

-  "  Et  ne  permettrions  que  Ton  eutreprist  jamais  chose  contra  aulcun  cato- 
lique,  mesmement  portant  toute  seurete  qu'on  ne  oseroit  regarder  rien  qui  fust 
au  roy  catolique,  duquel  nous  recevrions  le  commandement  et  le  ferions  ex- 
ecuter."    Mucius  to  Mendoza,  November  28,  1585,  De  Croze,  i.  365,  3G6. 


1585. 


PROSCRIPTION  OF  THE  HUGUENOTS. 


363 


should  be  done  by  himself  or  by  any  other  member  of  the  Lor- 
raine family  that  might  imbitter  the  mind  of  the  marshal. 

Toward  the  close  of  the  year  the  king  gave  orders  to 

Guise  bids  ,       -r^    ,  n    -^^  i 

Mayenne      the  Duke  01  JVlayenne  to  proceed  at  once  against 

avoid  attack-  .  ..  ,  „  , 

ingMontmo-  JVlontmorency  s  posscssious  111  southerii  France.  Let 
rency.  supposed  for  an  instant  that  any  junior  mem- 

ber of  the  family  ever  felt  at  liberty  to  obey  the  king,  especially 
in  so  important  a  matter,  without  consulting  or  receiving  in- 
structions from  its  head  and  leading  spirit.  "  You  have  been 
notified,"  the  Duke  of  Guise  wrote  to  Meiidoza,  "  that  the  kuig 
sent  word  to  my  brother  to  be  pleased  to  take  up  his  journey 
without  delay  toward  Languedoc.  This  was  the  reason  that  in 
all  diligence  I  despatched  this  coiu'ier  to  him,  in  order  that  he 
might  not  in  anywise,  or  whatever  command  were  given  him, 
accept  this  charge,  so  that  he  should  not  offend  Marshal  Mont- 
morency. At  once,  if  possible,  he  is  to  sit  down  before  some 
place  in  Guyenne,  so  as  not  to  lose  time ;  and  then  he  is  to  in- 
vent objections  based  upon  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  provisions, 
the  season  of  the  year,  the  strongholds,  the  roads — in  short,  on 
all  the  impediments  experienced  by  those  previously  sent  in  that 
direction.  While  these  difficulties  are  alleged,  we  shall,  if  pos- 
sible, slip  into  Auxonne.  Then  Mayenne  will  demand  his  conge 
outright,  and  he  will  certainly  not  go  to  Languedoc.  Of  that 
you  may  assure  the  King  of  Spain,  and  his  Highness  the  Prince 
of  Parma."  ' 

Here  again  the  sluggishness  of  Philip  the  Second  would 
seem  to  have  been  tlie  best  ally  of  Henry  of  Navarre  and  the 
Ph  i-  of  Huguenots.  Not  an  inch  would  that  prudent  mon- 
spainpro-     ai'ch  move  without  due  deliberation,  and,  happilv  for 

ciastinateB.  .  t  i 

those  against  whose  peace  he  was  daily  conspiring, 
events  did  not  tarry  for  his  delay.  Guise  might  repeat  his  peti- 
tion to  Mendoza,  week  after  week,  month  after  month,  till  the 
duke's  patience  was  quite  exhausted,  and  his  appeal  became 
almost  pathetic.    He  had  begged  "  so  often  " !    A  year  had 


'  "Puis  tout  a  plat  il  demandera  son  conge,  et  certainement  il  n'y  ira,  de 
quoy  vous  pouvez  advertir  Sa  Majeste  et  Son  Altesse."  Mucins  to  Mendoza, 
Chdlons,  November  15,  1585,  De  Croze,  i.  3G2,  3G3. 


3U 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.      Ch.  VL 


passed  since  the  matter  was  first  proposed  and  agreed  upon, 
lie  had  until  now  prevented  his  brother  from  attacking  Mont- 
morency, upon  the  assurances  which  he  had  received  that  the 
Duke  of  Savoy,  by  means  of  his  Catholic  Majesty,  would  induce 
the  marshal  to  make  common  cause  with  the  League  and  the 
Catholic  party.  It  was  out  of  respect  for  this  understanding 
that  Mayenne  had  delaj-ed  his  approach  to  the  city  of  Toulouse, 
foreseeing  that  this  would  involve  some  encounter  with  the 
marshal.  But,  as  ill-luck  would  have  it,  he  had  not  yet  heard 
that  the  slightest  thing  had  been  done.  The  King  of  Spain 
had  left  the  whole  matter  to  the  Duke  of  Savoy,  the  latter  had 
procrastinated,  and  there  it  had  ended.  Not  a  point  of  Guise's 
just  requests  had  been  provided  for,  and  so  the  danger  was 
great,  not  only  for  him,  but  for  all  Christendom.  At  last  came 
news  that  other  powerful  allies  had  thrown  in  their  lot  with  the 
King  of  Xavarre,  and  now  Montmorency,  with  this  new  acces- 
sion of  strength,  would  be  able  "  infinitely  to  traverse  all  the 
affairs  "  of  the  League.' 

Meantime  the  marshal  himself  showed  no  symptoms  of  any 
disposition  to  abandon  his  allies,  and  it  is  quite  possible  that  his 
constancy  might  have  stood  the  test  of  all  the  temptations  which 
the  united  ingenuity  of  the  pope,  the  King  of  Spain,  and  the 
Duke  of  Savoy,  reinforced  by  the  cunning  of  the  Guises,  could 
have  brought  to  beai'  upon  him.  Be  this  as  it  may,  the  "  Pro- 
protestation  testation  "  wliicli  he  sent  forth  in  his  individual  name 
Montmi"'  was  as  decided  in  tone  as  any  Huguenot  could  have 
rency.  wislied  it  to  bc.  The  marshal  therein  strengthened 
his  own  position  as  an  advocate  of  religious  toleration  by  quot- 
ing the  death-bed  counsel  of  his  late  father,  Anne  de  Mont- 
morency. The  constable,  in  the  vigor  of  health,  and  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  civil  wars,  had  certainly  been  no  friend  of  the 
Huguenots,  and  it  had  fared  ill  with  such  of  them  as  had  the 
misfortune  to  fall  into  his  hands.  But  we  have  his  son's  word 
for  it  that,  after  the  fatal  wound  received  in  the  battle  of  Saint 
Denis,  he  gave  Charles  the  Ninth  and  his  mother  the  sound  ad- 


'  "  Peult  infiniment  traverser  noz  afayres. "  See  letters  of  Mucius  to  Men- 
(loza,  January  29,  and  February  3,  1586,  in  De  Croze,  i.  368-371. 


1585. 


PROSCRIPTION  OF  THE  HUGUENOTS. 


305 


vice  to  compose  existing  troubles  by  a  peace  between  the  two 
religions,  while  awaiting  the  convocation  of  a  council  of  the 
Church ;  and  that  he  tersely  expressed  his  sentiments  upon  the 
subject  by  the  remark,  which  may  well  have  come  from  his  lips, 
"  that  the  shortest  follies  are  the  best,  and  an  end  must  be  put 
to  them  as  quickly  as  possible." '  In  view  of  the  disasters  i-e- 
sulting  fi'om  the  conspii-acy  of  the  foreign  family  of  Lorraine, 
who,  failing  in  their  object,  the  seizure  of  the  king's  person, 
liad  brought  into  France  troops  paid  by  the  King  of  Spain,  and 
reduced  Henry  to  such  perplexity  that  they  had  wrung  from 
him  a  peace  deplorable  to  all  good  subjects  of  the  realm,  by 
which  war  was  diverted  from  rebels  and  directed  against  obe- 
dient servants  of  the  monai'ch — Montmorency  demanded  that 
a  council  should  be  called,  and  declared  his  own  intention  to 
maintain  by  force  of  arms  the  Edict  of  15T7,  as  being  the 
expression  of  the  king's  own  will,  and  to  hold  the  authors 
of  its  pretended  revocation  to  be  enemies  of  the  public  tran- 
quillity.'' 

The  importunity  of  the  Guises  at  last  proved  successful  at 
Rome.    Sixtus  the  Fifth  was  brought  to  the  decisive  measure 
of  hurling  the  Church's  thunderbolt  at  the  d^oted  head  of 
Henry  of  Is^avarre.    The  pontiff  had  not  ceased  to 

The  pope  still  i        •  i     i  .  r    ^  j  • 

opposes  the    watcli  witli  dccp  interest  the  proscress  of  the  conflict 

League.  ^ ,  i 

of  the  King  of  France  and  the  League,  and  liad  ex- 
pressed great  satisfaction  when  an  apparent  reconciliation  was 
effected  between  the  parties.  His  only  fear  seemed  to  be  that 
trouble  might  again  break  out,  and  the  Very  Christian  King- 
be  compelled  by  the  very  perversity  of  the  champions  of  ortho- 
doxy to  make  an  arrangement  with  the  King  of  Xavarre  and 
the  Prince  of  Conde ;  as  a  consequence  of  which  France  would 
be  deluged  with  Lutherans  and   Calvinists.     He  therefore 


'  "Qui  conseilla  tres  bien  a  leurs  majestes,  an  lict  mesmes  de  la  mort,  et 
mourant  toiitesfois  des  fruicts  de  ceste  guerre,  de  composer  ces  troubles  par 
une  paix  des  deux  relligions,  attendant  ung  Concile,  en  ces  mots,  que  les  plus 
courtes  folies  estoient  les  meilleures,  et  qu'il  estoit  necessaire  d'y  mettre  tost 
une  fin.'' 

"Protestation  de  M.  le  due  de  Montmorency,"  in  Memoires  de  Duplessis 
Mornay,  iii.  186-196. 


3CG 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.       Ch.  VI. 


begged  the  heads  of  the  League  to  join  Henry  of  Valois  in 
good  faith,  and  help  him  to  devise  plans  for  the  extermination 
of  heresy.  "  I  have  had  some  experience  in  affairs,"  said  Sixtus, 
and  I  think  that  I  can  see  clearly  enough  into  the  future  to 
make  a  bold  but  true  prophecy :  the  Huguenot  will  never  be 
undone  till  the  League  shall  have  been."  Whereupon  his  holi- 
ness broke  down  in  tears  over  the  prospective  misfortunes  of 
that  kingdom  which  was  the  flower  of  Christendom — tears 
which  his  politic  hearer  took  good  care  to  accompany  with 
some  show  of  emotion  of  his  own.'  None  the  less  did  the 
lachrymose  pontiff  pour  out  the  vials  of  his  wrath  unsparingly 
on  the  Huguenot  Prince  of  iS^avarre. 

The  bull  from  which  Henry  of  Guise  looked  for  such  excel- 
lent results  for  the  cause  of  Roman  Catholicism  in  France  was 
dated  the  ninth  of  September.    It  began  with  a  clear  and  un- 
mistakable enunciation  of  the  rights  of  the  Holy  See. 

Sixtus  ex-       _  .  .  o    •       T>  11' 

communicates  ilie  authority  given  to  oamt  1  eter  and  his  successors 
the  King  of    bv  tlic  infinite  power  of  the  Eternal  Kinsr  surpasses 

Navarre  .  o  i 

all  the  powers  of  earthly  kings  and  princes,  and  the 
Holy  See  being  founded  upon  the  firm  rock,  and  being  never 
shaken  by  any*  winds  or  storms,  whether  adverse  or  favorable, 
it  pronounces  irrevocable  decisions  and  judgments.  With  all 
diligence  does  it  watch  over  the  observance  of  the  divine  laws, 
and,  when  it  finds  any  persons  contravening  the  ordinance  of 
God,  punishes  them  Avith  grievous  punishment,  depriving  them, 
however  great  they  may  be,  of  their  seats,  and  casting  them 
down  as  ministers  of  Satan.  Such  was  the  arrogant  preamble ; 
after  which  Sixtus  proceeded  to  state  that,  in  the  discharge  of 
the  care  that  had  been  confided  to  him  over  all  churches  and 
nations,  it  became  his  duty  to  purge  Christendom,  and  in  par- 
ticular the  flourishing  realm  of  France,  of  wicked  and  detesta- 
ble monsters,  and  to  restore  peace  to  a  country  whose  monarchs, 
by  their  great  piety  and  signal  good  services  to  the  Roman 
Church,  had  justly  earned  the  title  of  Yery  Christian.  In  or- 
der, therefore,  never  to  be  accused  before  God  of  contempt  of 


'  The  Duke  of  Nevers  to  the  Cardinal  of  Bourbon,  Rome,  August  2D,  1585, 
Memoires  de  Nevers,  i.  672,  G73. 


1585. 


EXCOMMUNICATION  OF  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE. 


367 


duty,  the  pope  declared  himself  to  be  constrained  to  use  the 
arms  of  his  warfare,  which  were  not  carnal,  and  proceeded  not 
from  him,  but  from  Almighty  God,  for  the  overthrow  of  the 
power  of  the  enemy,  chiefly  against  two  children  of  wrath — 
against  Henry,  of  Bourbon,  formerly  King  of  Navarre,  and 
against  Henry  also  of  Bourbon,  formerly  Prince  of  Conde. 
IS'ext  were  ijiven  in  considerable  detail  the  misdeeds  of  the  two 
cousins,  especial  emphasis  being  laid  upon  their  conversion 
from  the  heresy  in  which  they  were  brought  up  to  the  true 
faith,  and  upon  their  more  recent  apostasy,  with  all  the  hostile 
acts  since  perpetrated  by  them.  The  conclusion  of  the  whole 
matter  was  that  Pope  Sixtus  pronounced  the  King  of  Xavarre 
and  the  Prince  of  Conde  to  be  relapsed  heretics,  guilty  of 
treason  against  heaven,  and  therefore  to  have  forfeited  all  their 
goods,  honors,  and  dignities,  and  to  be  incapable,  themselves 
and  their  posterity,  of  succeeding  to  any  principality  or  king- 
dom, especially  to  the  kingdom  of  France.  The  subjects  of 
the  King  of  jSTavarre  were  pronounced  to  be  absolved  from  their 
oaths  of  allegiance,  and  the  King  of  France  was  enjoined  to 
fulfil  the  engagement  publicly  taken  at  his  coronation,  and  to 
labor  to  carry  into  effect  the  present  just  sentence,  as  a  deed 
a2;reeable  to  God  and  a  means  of  cancellina;  his  oblio-ations  to 
mother  Holy  Church.  Twenty -five  cardinals  appended  their 
signatures,  below  the  signature  of  the  pope,  to  the  terrible 
document  which  was  to  annihilate  the  leaders  of  the  Huguenot 
party  in  France.' 

The  pretensions  first  put  forth  by  Gregory  the  Seventh,  and 
more  vigorously  and  successfully  asserted  by  Innocent  the  Third, 
^         were  never  more  distinctly  enunciated.   But,  for  some 
munication    reasou  or  othcr,  the  thunderbolt  did  not  vindicate  its 
indignation    traditional  effectiveness.     Neither  the  Bourbons,  at 

and  ridicule.        ,  .  (-i-r-> 

whona  it  was  aimed,  nor  the  adherents  or  the  Koman 
Catholic  Church  in  France,  who  were  expected  to  prostrate 
themselves  in  fear  at  the  mighty  sound  of  the  apostolic  artil- 


'  The  bull  may  be  found,  in  the  French  garb  under  which  it  was  circulated 
in  France,  in  the  Memoires  de  la  Ligue,  i.  236-242,  and  Cimber  et  Danjou, 
Archives  curieuses,  xi.  47-55,  with  the  title:    "La  declaration  de  Nostre 


368  THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.       Ch.  VI. 


lei-y,  were  seriously  disturbed.  In  fact,  the  day  of  terror  seemed 
to  liave  passed  away,  and  fear  of  priestly  excommunication  to 
have  given  place  to  indignation  at  priestly  assumption.  Henry 
of  Valois,  it  is  true,  felt  obliged  to  use  moderation  and  hide  his 
displeasure  when  the  papal  nuncio  requested  an  audience,  and 
placed  in  his  hands  the  bull  of  excommunication,  with  the  re- 
quest that  he  should  publish  it  and  see  to  its  execution.  But 
the  moment  the  prelate  had  left  the  room,  Henry  scoffingly 
exclaimed  to  his  courtiers  as  they  stood  about  him :  "  It  seems 
that  the  pope  would  like  to  have  me  act  as  his  provost  marshal 
in  France  !  " ' 

As  for  Henry  of  Navarre,  that  cheerful  prince  made  little  of 
the  pope's  impotent  threats,  but  thought  it  not  amiss  to  turn 
the  wliole  affair  into  ridicule.    Under  his  name,  and 

Kavarre  chal- 

lenges  sixtns  douDtless  With  liis  conseut,  a  pungent  reply  was  put 

to  appear  be-  f       i      i  n  •  i 

fore  a  general  torth,  auQ  uot  Only  put  torth,  but  actually  carried  to 
Rome,  and  as  sedulously  posted  in  all  the  public 
places  of  the  eternal  city  as  the  pontifical  excommunication  had 
been.  From  the  mutilated  statue  of  Pasquin  and  elsewhere, 
the  astonished  ecclesiastics  of  Rome  read  the  sentences  in  which 
Henry,  by  the  grace  of  God  King  of  Navarre  and  Sovereign 
Prince  of  Bearn,  appealed  from  the  bull,  as  abusive,  to  the 
Ck)urt  of  Peers  of  France,  of  whom  he  liad  the  honor  to  be  the 
first,  and  maintained  that  Mr.  Sixtus,  styling  himself  pope 
(saving  his  holiness),  had  falsely  and  maliciouslv  lied,  and  was 
himself  a  heretic.  This  statement,  the  placard  went  on  to  say, 
the  king  was  ready  to  prove  in  a  free  and  lawfully  assembled 
council  of  the  Church,  to  which,  if  Sixtus  refused  to  submit,  he 
denounced  him  as  Antichrist.    Meantime,  he  would  proceed 


Sainct  Pere  le  Pape  Sixtus  cinquiesme,  a  Tencontre  de  Henry  de  Bourbon, 
soy  disant  Roy  de  Navarre,  et  Henry  semblablement  de  Bourbon  pretenda 
Prince  de  Conde,  lieretiques,  coutre  leurs  posteritez  et  successeurs :  par 
laquelle  tous  leurs  sujects  sont  declarez  absous  de  tous  serments  qu'ils  leur 
auroyent  jure,  faict  ou  promis."  See  also  Recueil  des  choses  memorables, 
617-'6-20,  and  De  Thou,  vi.  514-516. 

'  "  Subito  che  detto  nunzio  si  parti,  dieono  die  Sua  Maesta  dicesse :  '  Jl 
Papa  vuole  pare  cli'  io  serva  per  suo  prevosto  in  Francia. '  "  Letter  of  Busini, 
October  29,  1585,  Negociations  avec  la  Toseane,  iv.  594. 


1585.  EXCOMMUNICATION  OF  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE. 


3G9 


against  him,  in  vindication  of  the  honor  of  his  honse,  as  occa- 
sion miglit  offer,  and  would  show  himself  not  inferior  to  the 
princes  and  kings,  his  predecessors,  who  had  known  full  well 
how  to  chastise  the  insolence  of  such  gallants  as  this  pretended 
Pope  Sixtus.  For  this  end  he  called  to  his  aid  all  Christian 
princes  and  communities  against  the  usurpation  of  the  pope 
and  the  conspirators  of  the  League  inimical  to  God,  to  the 
king,  and  to  the  general  peace  of  Christendom.' 

Pope  Sixtus,  who  always  appreciated  a  brave  action,  made, 
indeed,  a  strict  but  useless  search  for  the  persons  who  had  had 
the  audacity  to  bring  the  King  of  Navarre's  cartel ;  but,  failing 
in  this,  ever  after  expressed  warm  admiration  for  the  prince 
who  had  challenged  him  to  combat  in  the  sight  of  the  whole 
world.  He  used  to  say  that  he  knew  but  two  persons — a  man 
and  a  woman — who,  apart  from  religion,  deserved  the  throne, 
and  to  whom  he  felt  inclined  to  confide  his  own  great  designs  ; 
and  that  man  and  that  woman  were  Henry  of  Navarre  and 
Elizabeth  of  England.^ 

Other  pens  than  that  of  Lestoile  busied  themselves  in  holding 
up  to  the  light  of  day  the  absurdities  of  Sixtus's  bull,  and,  in 
particular,  the  "  Brutura  Fulmen  "  of  Francis  Hot- 

Hotman's  iii  i  i. 

"  Brutum     man  added  to  tlie  author  s  popularity  in  his  own  age, 

Falmen."  .  . 

and  to  his  celebrity  in  ages  to  come.'  For  the  pur- 
poses of  the  present  history,  however,  it  is  important  only  to 
notice  the  calm  and  dignified  attitude  assumed  by  the  Parlia- 
ment of  Paris. 

About  the  same  time  that  the  papal  bull  was  received  in 
France  the  king  signed  a  second  edict  or  declaration  respecting 
the  Huguenots,  at  the  dictation  of  the  League.    In  the  edict  of 


'  "  Coppie  de  I'Oppo.sition  faite  par  le  Roy  de  Navarre  et  Monseigneur  le 
Prince  de  Conde,  contre  I'Excommunication  du  Pape  Sixte  cinquiesme,  a  luy 
envoyee  et  affichee  par  les  cantons  de  la  ville  de  Rome."  Posted  in  Rome, 
November  G,  1585.  Memoires  de  la  Ligue,  i.  268,  209  ;  Cimber  et  Danjou, 
Archives  curieuses,  xi.  59-61 ;  Lestoile,  i.  190,  who  claims  to  have  composed 
the  reply :  "  fait  par  I'aucteur  des  presens  memoires." 

'  De  Thou,  vi.  521. 

'  Bayle,  in  hi.s  dictionary,  lias  corrected  the  misapprehensions  to  which  De 
Thou  s  statements  respecting  the  "  Brutum  Fulmeu  '  have  given  rise. 
Vol.  I.— 24 


370 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.      Ch.  VI. 


July — the  so-called  Edict  of  Nemours— the  term  of  six  months 
had  been  set  within  which  all  Protestants  were  commanded 
either  to  become  Roman  Catholics  or*  to  leave  the 

Royal  declara-  ,  .       ,  f 

tion^ October  kingdom.  It  now  appeared  that,  instead  of  employ- 
ing the  time  of  grace  for  the  purpose  intended,  many 
of  the  Huguenots  had  availed  themselves  of  the  opportunity  to 
take  the  field  or  to  render  assistance  to  their  companions  in 
arms.  For  this  reason  the  king  declared  the  property  of  such 
persons  to  be  forfeited  to  the  state  treasury,  and  ordered  the 
proceeds  of  its  sale  to  be  applied  exclusively  to  the  maintenance 
of  the  present  war.  Moreover,  he  diminished  the  time  for 
which  unoffending  Protestants  were  suffered  to  remain  in 
France,  from  six  months  to  fifteen  days.' 

To  the  king's  new  edict,  and  to  the  papal  bull  which  the 
monarch  sent  to  them  for  registry,  the  parliament  made  reply 
The  remon-  ^  remoustraucc  creditable  alike  to  the  intelligence 
pari'iameLt'*''  and  to  the  conscience  of  the  judges.  They  confessed 
of  Paris.  ^}^gy         little  hope,  in  view  of  their  late  ill 

success,  of  securing  a  favorable  hearing  from  his  majesty  ;  but 
they  must  discharge  their  duty,  and  with  the  more  boldness,  as 
they  saw  the  license  displayed  by  the  enemies  of  the  state  to  take 
advantage  of  the  king's  piety  and  devotion  in  order  to  cover 
their  own  impiety  and  rebellion.  If  the  king  had  listened  to 
their  remonstrances,  made  on  occasion  of  the  Edict  of  Juh',  he 
would  have  recognized  the  fact  that  the  designs  of  the  League 
tended  onl}^  to  disunion  among  his  subjects,  and  that,  however 
great  and  redoubtable  its  forces,  in  view  of  the  ills  they  inflicted 
on  the  people,  past  experience  taught  that  they  were  too  weak 
A  forcible  to  accomplisli  their  purpose.  Even  could  they  accom- 
ertyof'con-  plisli  it,  liis  uiajcsty  ouglit  not  to  make  use  of  them, 
science.  inasmucli  as  the  crime  which  he  wished  to  punish  is 
fixed  in  the  consciences  of  men.  Now,  man's  conscience  is 
be3'ond  the  power  of  chains  and  of  fire,  and  can  be  reached  by 


'  ' '  Declaration  du  Roy  sur  son  Edict  du  mois  de  Juillet  dernier,  touchant 
la  Reunion  de  tons  ses  sujectz  a  I'Eglise  Catholique,  Apostolique  et  Romaine," 
October  7,  1585.  Memoires  de  la  Ligue,  i.  251-6.  The  example  of  France 
•was  followed  by  the  Duke  of  Lorraine,  who  also  commanded  all  Huguenots  to 


1585.  EXCOMMUNICATION  OF  HENRY  OP  NAVARRE.  371 


other  means  more  befitting  a  king's  affection  for  liis  subjects.' 
Kings  are  but  shepherds,  edicts  are  but  the  staff  wherewith  they 
guide  the  flock.  The  name  of  edict  scarcely  belongs  to  a  bloody 
proscription  decreeing  in  express  terms  the  massacre  of  the  flock, 
and  the  consequent  destruction  of  the  shepherd's  authority. 
"  Were  the  entire  Huguenot  party  reduced  to  a  single  person, 
there  is  not  among  us  one  judge,"  said  parliament,  "  that  would 
dare  to  render  a  sentence  of  death  against  it,  unless  its  solenm 
trial  had  first  been  held.  And,  therefore,  were  it  not  duly  at- 
tainted and  convicted  of  a  capital  and  enormous  crime,  in  con- 
demning the  malefactor  we  should  lament  the  loss  of  a  good 
citizen.  Who,  then,  shall  dare,  without  any  form  of  justice 
whatsoever,  to  depopulate  so  many  cities,  destroy  so  many  pro- 
The  crime  of  ^iuces,  aud  couvert  this  entire  kingdom  into  a  tomb  ? 
proscription.  "Who  shall  dare  to  utter  the  word  that  is  to  expose  so 
many  millions  of  men,  women,  and  children  to  death,  and  that, 
too,  without  apparent  cause  or  reason  ;  seeing  that  no  crime  is 
imputed  to  tliem  save  heresy,  heresy  as  yet  unknown,  or,  at 
least,  undecided,  heresy  which  they  have  siistained  in  your 
presence,  against  the  most  famous  theologians  of  your  king- 
dom, in  which  they  have  been  born  and  brought  up  for  the 
past  thirty  years  by  permission  of  your  majesty  and  of  the  late 
king,  your  brother  of  happy  memory,  and  which  they  refer  to 
the  judgment  of  a  council,  general  or  national." 

What  affection  for  the  king's  service  can  those  entertain, 
what  loyalty  to  an  old  and  decrepit  state,  who  draw  from  it  the 
little  of  strength  and  vigor  which  remains,  by  so  excessive  a 
bleeding,  that  those  who  perform  the  operation  will  run  the 
risk  of  being  themselves  drowned  ?  Thirty  or  forty  thousand 
Huguenots,  fighting  in  defence  of  their  lives  and  of  everything 
most  dear  to  them,  cannot  be  routed,  but  as  many  Catholics  be 
left  on  the  field.    Who  will  venture  to  promise  himself  the 


leave  his  dominions  witliin  a  fortnight.  Mucins  to  Mendoza,  Chalons,  No- 
vember 18,  1585,  De  Croze,  i.  3G3. 

'  "  Le  crime  que  vous  voulez  chastier  est  attache  aux  consciences  lesquelles 
sont  exemptes  de  la  puissance  du  fer  et  du  feu,  et  se  peuvent  manier  par 
autres  raoyens  plus  convenables  a  I'affectiou  pateruelle  que  vostre  peuple  a 
tousjours  trouvee  en  vous." 


372  THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.       Ch.  VI. 


victory  after  so  wholesale  a  destruction  as  may  be  expected  ; 
or,  rather,  what  will  be  left  for  Pestilence  and  for  Famine, 
which  even  now  dispute  with  "War  the  honor  of  effecting  the 
liual  ruin  of  his  majesty's  realm  ? 

From  the  royal  edict,  parliament  turned  to  the  consideration 
of  the  papal  bull,  the  style  of  which  was  so  novel,  so  far  re- 
rariiamcnfs  i^iovcd  from  the  modesty  of  former  popes,  that  the 
the"papaf  j^dges  failed  in  any  way  to  recognize  the  voice  of  a 
bull.  successor  of  the  Apostles.    And  inasmuch  as  they 

found  neither  from  their  registers  nor  from  past  history  that 
the  provinces  of  France  had  ever  been  subject  to  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  pope,  or  that  subjects  had  the  right  to  take  cognizance 
of  the  religion  of  their  princes,  parliament  refused  to  deliberate 
respecting  this  document  "until  the  pope"  said  they,  "  sliall 
first  have  shown  upon  what  rights  he  bases  his  claim  to  transfer 
kingdoms  established  and  ordered  of  God  before  the  name  of 
'  pope '  was  known  in  the  world — until  he  shall  have  told  us  on 
what  ground  he  meddles  with  the  succession  of  a  prince,  young 
and  vigorous,  from  whom  offspring  may  naturally  be  looked 
for — until  he  shall  have  informed  us  with  what  show  of  justice 
or  equity  he  refuses  the  common  rights  of  man  to  persons  ac- 
cused of  lieresy — i;ntil  he  shall  have  taught  us  with  what  sort 
of  piety  and  holiness  he  gives  away  what  does  not  belong  to 
him,  takes  from  his  neighbor  what  is  lawfully  his,  incites 
vassals  and  subjects  to  rebellion  against  their  lords  and  sover- 
eign princes,  and  overthrows  the  foundations  of  all  justice  and 
political  order. 

"  Inasmuch,"  added  the  judges,  "  as  the  new  pope,  instead  of 
instruction,  breathes  in  his  bull  nothing  but  destruction,  and 
changes  his  pastoral  crook  into  a  frightful  torch  to  serve  for 
the  entire  ruin  of  those  whom  he  ought  to  lead  back  to  the 
fold  of  the  Church,  if  they  have  strayed  fi-om  it,  the  court 
cannot  further  deliberate  respecting  the  publication  of  a  bull  of 
such  a  kind,  so  pernicious  to  the  interests  of  all  Christendom 
and  the  sovereignty  of  3- our  crown.  For  it  judges  from  this 
moment  that  the  bull  deserves  no  other  reward  than  that 
which  one  of  your  predecessors  made  us  give  to  a  similar  bull 
which  a  predecessor  of  this  pope  had  sent  to  him,  namely,  to 


15S5.  EXCOMMUNICATION  OP  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.  373 


throw  it  into  the  fire  in  the  presence  of  the  whole  Gallican 
Church,  while  enjoining  your  '  procureur-general '  to  make  dili- 
gent search  for  those  who  had  urged  the  issue  of  it  in  the  court 
of  Rome,  for  the  purpose  of  inflicting  such  good  and  speedy 
justice  as  should  serve  as  an  example  to  all  future  generations." 

The  judges  therefore  begged  the  king  not  to  require  them 
to  promulgate  the  hull  of  Pope  Sixtus,  and  brought  their  re- 
monstrance to  a  close  with  this  suggestion :  "  It  is  therefore  more 
expedient  for  your  majesty  to  be  without  a  court  of  parliament 
than  to  see  it  so  useless  as  we  now  are  ;  and  it  is  also  far  more 
honorable  for  us  to  retire  into  private  life  in  our  houses  and 
Aveep  over  the  public  calamities  in  common  with  our  fellow- 
citizens,  than  to  bring  the  dignity  of  your  charges  into  slavery 
to  the  mischievous  inventions  of  the  enemies  of  your  crown."  ' 

These  Avere  brave  words,  worthy  of  the  best  days  of  the 
Parliament  of  Paris,  when  Seguier,  and  Anne  du  Bourg,  and 
others  like  them,  sat  upon  the  benches  in  the  "  palais  de 
justice."  But  unfortunately  the  patriotic  chancellor  Michel 
de  rilospital  no  longer  stood  near  the  throne,  to  repel  with 
righteous  indignation  all  attempts  of  the  papacy  to  usurp 
powers  which  the  Gallican  Church  had  always  denied  to  it.  So 
it  has  happened  that,  whereas  the  bull  of  Pius  the  Fourth, 
threatening  Jeanne  d'Albret  with  excommunication  and  de- 
position, was,  through  very  shame,  dropped  from  the  pontifical 
constitutions  and  has  left  no  trace  of  its  existence,  the  document 
hurled  by  Sixtus  the  Fifth  against  the  son  of  Jeanne  has  been 
audaciously  permitted  to  occupy  a  place  among  the  authoritative 
declarations  of  the  Church  of  Rome." 

Yet  the  discontent  with  the  pope's  action  was  almost  universal. 
Even  the  queen-mother  was  outspoken  in  condemnation.  It 
does  not  indeed  appear  that  she  sent  word  to  Sixtus, 

Displeasure  iiit->' 

of  Catharine   as  slic  had  to  Puis,  twcutv-two  vcars  before,  "that 

de"  Medici.       ,      ,      ,  ,  , 

he  had  no  authority  and  jurisdiction  over  those  who 
bear  the  title  of  king  or  of  queen,  and  that  it  was  not  for 
liim  to  give  their  states  and  kingdoms  as  a  prey  to  the  first  con- 

'  "Remonstrance  au  Roy  par  la  Cour  de  Parlement,"  in  Memoires  de  la 
Ligue,  i.  244-250. 

*  See  the  just  remarks  of  De  Thou,  vi.  (book  82)  519,  520. 


37i 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OP  NAVARRE.      Ch.  VL 


queror."  '    But  none  the  less  was  slie  vexed  and  astonished  that 
her  relative,  the  Cardinal  de'  Medici,  had  consented  to  sign  the 
obnoxious  document."  In  the  end  some  decisive  steps  were  taken 
to  suppress  the  bull  and  prevent  its  circulation  amonsr 

The  printer        ,  ,         t  r     t  •  t,  ••  i  t 

ot  the  buu    the  people.   It  was  torbidden  to  prmt  it :  and,  ereatlv 

imprisoned.  i        t  r     ^  •  tit 

to  the  disgust  or  the  nuncio  and  the  League,  one 
adventurous  man  who  had  contravened  the  order  was  promptly 
thrown  into  prison/ 

Meanwhile  the  Huguenots  had  not  been  inactive.  To  the 
Edict  of  X emours  and  the  Declaration  of  October  Ilenrj  of  K a- 

varre  answered  by  a  Declaration  of  his  own,  wherein, 

Henry  of  Na-  ,  .  ,      i    •     t         t   i  • 

varre  re-  alter  rehearsing  the  motives  that  had  induced  him 
to  wait  so  long  before  a  resort  to  arms,  he  ordered 
that  all  the  goods  and  chattels  belonging  to  the  inhabitants  of 
cities  or  towns  in  which  the  proscriptive  edict  and  declaration 
had  been  published,  should  be  seized  and  sold  to  the  highest 
bidder.^  War  had  broken  out  in  good  earnest,  and  the  "West  had 
witnessed  some  successes  for  the  Protestant  arms.  Most  notable, 
however,  was  the  enterprise  of  Angers,  the  romantic  history  of 
which  seems  to  carry  one  back  to  the  days  of  mediseval  knight- 
hood, while  the  perils  with  which  it  was  accompanied  nearly  in- 
volved the  death  of  a  prince,  next  to  Henry  of  Xavarre,  most 
essential  to  the  Protestant  cause. 

The  important  city  of  Angers,  situated  upon  the  river  Maine, 
about  two  miles  below  the  spot  where  that  stream  is  formed  by 
the  confluence  of  the  Sarthe  and  the  Mayenne,  and  five  miles 
The  Castle  ot  ^^o^'^  the  placc  wlierc,  having  run  its  short  course, 
Angers.  ii^q  J^faiuc  euipties  into  the  Loire,  was  the  former 
capital  of  the  dukes  of  Anjou.  The  city  extended  to  a  small 
island,  and  there  was  a  considerable  quarter  on  the  right  bank ; 
but  the  larger  part  was  built  upon  the  left  or  eastern  side  of 


'  Catharine  de'  Medici  to  Bochetel,  December  13, 1563,  Le  Laboureur,  i.  783. 
See  Rise  of  tbe  Huguenots,  ii.  143. 

^  Letter  of  Busini,  November  12, 1585,  Negociations  avec  la  Toscane,  iv.  599. 

^  Letter  of  Busini,  November  25,  1585,  ibid.,  iv.  600. 
"  Declaration  du  Boy  de  Navarre  sur  les  moyens  qu'on  doibt  tenir  pour  la 
saisie  des  biens  des  fauteurs  de  la  Ligue  et  leurs  adbereus."    Bergerac,  No- 
vember 30,  1585  ;  Memoires  de  la  Ligue,  i.  298-300. 


1585. 


ENTERPRISE  OF  ANGERS. 


375 


the  Maine.  Here,  on  a  commanding  elevation,  overlooking  the 
surrounding  country  and  frowning  upon  the  humbler  homes  of 
the  burghers,  stood  a  massive  castle,  long  the  residence  and 
safe  retreat  of  the  princes  of  the  Angeviue  line.  It  was  a 
gloomy  pile  in  the  shape  of  a  vast  parallelogram.  The  walls, 
strengthened  at  intervals  by  eighteen  formidable  round  towers 
jutting  out  from  the  general  work,  rose  full  one  hundred  feet 
in  height  above  the  neighboring  Maine,  built  of  solid  slate,  of 
which  the  blackness  was  rather  intensified  than  relieved  by  con- 
trast with  layers  of  a  lighter  stone  running  like  ribbons  around 
the  entire  building.  The  castle  was  protected  by  a  moat  cut 
out  of  the  solid  rock,  thirty-five  feet  in  depth  and  neai'ly  thrice 
as  broad  as  deep.  The  original  builder  was  unknown.  There 
were  those  that  made  it  to  be  the  happy  thought  of  a  queen  of 
Sicily  who  had  it  constructed  in  the  absence  and  without  the 
knowledge  of  her  husband.  Others  ascribed  it  to  the  English. 
Moderns  affirm  that  it  was  begun  in  the  reign  of  Philip  Au- 
gustus and  completed  in  that  of  his  grandson,  Louis  the 
Kinth.  Whoever  the  builders  may  have  been,  however,  it  was 
certain  that  they  did  their  task  well.  Though  often  besieged, 
the  Castle  of  Angers  had  never  been  captured,  and  was  justly 
deemed,  so  far  as  force  was  concerned,  quite  impregnable. 
Ample  provision  had  been  made  against  treacherous  surprise. 
There  was  but  a  single  entrance  to  the  keep,  and  this  was  so 
well  guarded,  that,  what  with  successive  gates  and  draw-bridges, 
the  stealthy  admission  of  an  enemy  might  well  have  seemed 
impossible.' 

During  the  lifetime  of  Francis  of  Anjou,  the  king's  brother, 
his  favorite  Bussy  d'Amboise  had  been  intrusted  with  the  guard 
of  Angers,  and  had  placed  one  Captain  Du  Ilalot  in  command 
Apiottosur-  castle.    Brissac,  an  undisguised  partisan  of 

prise  It.  ii^Q  League,  who  had  succeeded  Bussy  d'Amboise, 
upon  the  death  of  the  duke,  had  dismissed  Du  Halot  and  given 
the  post  to  one  Captain  Grec.  Du  Ilalot  was  not  the  only 
officer  whose  enmity  Brissac  had  gained.    A  second  captain. 


'  Jodocus  Sincerus,  writing  about  thirty  years  after  the  events  here  de- 
scribed (the  dedication  of  his  "  Itinerarium  Gallic  "  is  dated  July  15,  1C16). 


376  THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HEXRY  OF  NAVARRE.       Cn.  VI. 


Fresne,  Lad  served  under  his  colors  so  long  as  the  League  was 
in  open  war  with  the  king,  but  had  been  ignominiouslj  turned 
adrift  as  soon  as  the  Edict  of  Jsemours  was  signed.  Both  Dii 
llalot  and  Fresne  swore  that  they  would  be  revenged.  It  was 
under  these  circumstances  that  the  two  Roman  Catholics  met, 
in  the  neighboring  town  of  Beaufort,  a  Huguenot  soldier  of  the 
same  grade,  who  happened  to  have  come  north  of  the  Loire 
with  a  few  men  of  the  same  religion,  under  command  of  one  of 
Henry  of  Xavarre's  followers,  a  Protestant  nobleman  named 
M.  de  Clermont.  The  three  agreed  to  make  a  common  attempt 
to  seize  the  Castle  of  Angex's ;  3'et  each  had  his  own  ulterior 
views.  Du  Halot  intended,  so  he  said,  to  hand  over  the  castle 
when  gained  to  the  king,  from  whom  he  maintained  that  he 
had  a  commission.  Fresne  would  have  used  the  possession  of 
the  castle  to  secure  better  terms  from  the  League.  Both  be- 
lieved that  after  taking  advantage  of  what  help  in  men  the 
Huguenot  Rochemorte  might  bring  them,  it  would  be  an  easy 
matter  to  get  rid  of  him,  should  he  prove  a  troublesome  asso- 
ciate. The  joint  plot  was  speedily  executed.  Captain  Fresne, 
who  was  on  terms  of  intimacy  with  the  commander  of  the  small 
garrison  of  scarce  a  dozen  men,  called  upon  him  one  day  and 
was  hospitably  invited  to  remain  and  dine  with  him.  When  he 
pretended  to  excuse  himself  on  the  ground  that  he  had  asked 
some  friends  of  his  own  to  dinner.  Captain  Grec  urged  him  to 
return  to  his  house  and  bring  them  with  him.  Fresne  desired 
no  better  pretext,  and  came  back  in  company  with  his  fellow- 
conspirators,  attended  by  some  of  the  Huguenot  soldiers  of 
Rochemorte.  The  first  guards  met  had  been  gained  over  and 
easily  let  them  pass,  and  when  the  second  body  of  guards  de- 
murred at  the  entrance  of  so  many  armed  men,  the  pretended 
guests  fell  upon  them  and  killed  them.  Fresne  himself  stabbed 
his  unfortunate  host,  when  the  latter  came  to  the  door  of  his 
room  to  ascertain  the  cause  of  the  uproar.  In  a  word,  almost 
before  the  occupants  were  aware  that  they  were  threatened,  the 


says,  p.  106:  "In  arcem  exteris  facilior  est  adit  us  quam  indigenis.  Trans- 
eundae  aliquot  portae  et  pontes  antequam  intus  sis.  Cumque  unum  pontem 
superaris,  ilium  elevant  atque  egressum  obserant,  antequam  ulterius  intromit- 
taris." 


1585. 


ENTERPRISE  OF  ANGERS. 


377 


castle  was  taken.  Meanwhile,  however,  Du  Ilalot,  intoxicated 
by  success,  at  the  very  moment  when  he  might  have  safely  shut 
himself  in  with  his  companions,  was  so  ill  advised  as  to  turn 
aside  into  the  town  in  order  to  try  to  get  the  citizens  to  espouse 
his  side  as  against  the  League ;  but  instead  of  persuading  them 
he  was  himself  taken  prisoner.  Toward  evening  the  towns- 
men proposed  a  parley,  and  Du  Ilalot  was  put  forward  to  en- 
tice the  enemy  into  their  hands.  Under  cover  of  the  gathering 
darkness,  a  body  of  thirty  or  forty  arquebusiers  had  been  posted 
near  the  grating,  to  seize  the  person  of  Fresne  when  he  should 
come  to  the  conference,  or  make  themselves  masters  of  the 
draw-bridge  before  there  should  be  an  opportunity  to  raise  it. 
The  imprudent  discharge  of  one  of  the  arquebuses  gave  prema- 
ture warning  of  the  plot,  and  the  entrance  was  instantly  closed. 
Unhappily  there  was  not  time  for  Fresne  himself  to  retreat 
before  the  bridge  had  risen.  In  his  despair  he  caught  the 
cliains,  but  the  enemy  promptly  using  their  swords  cut  off  his 
hands  and  he  fell  defenceless  into  the  dry  moat.  Here  a  deer, 
kept  by  the  city  for  the  amusement  of  the  people,  inflicted  such 
wounds  upon  him  with  its  horns  that  he  soon  died.  Du  Ilalot 
also  was  now  executed.  By  a  singular  series  of  events  one  of 
the  strongest  castles  in  Finance,  in  a  region  altogether  Roman 
.  Catholic,  had  come  into  the  hands  of  a  follower  of  the 
Huguenot  King  of  Xavarrc.  Unfortunately  he  had  but  seven 
Huguenots  with  him,  out  of  a  total  garrison  of  six- 
teen men  all  told  ;  and  the  King  of  Kavarre  was  far  away  in 
Southern  France.  The  nearest  Huguenot  general,  the  Prince 
of  Conde,  then  occupied  with  the  siege  of  the  seaport  of 
Brouage,  was  not  less  than  one  hundred  miles  distant. 

The  tidings  were  speedily  carried  to  all  the  Roman  Catholic 
generals  on  the  north  of  the  Loire,  and  troops  gathered  from 
con(i6  ad  ^vcry  quarter.  More  tardily  the  news  reached  Conde, 
vancesto  who,  at  first  iucrcdulous  of  the  truth  of  so  strange  an 
incident,  was  led  by  bad  advice  to  come  too  slowly  to 
the  rescue.'  The  expedition,  in  truth,  was  sufficiently  hazardous, 


'  According  to  Agrippa  d'Aubigne  (ii.  442,  443),  who  was  at  first  to  command 
the  expedition  for  the  relief  of  Rocliemorte  and  the  Huguenot  handful  in 


378 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.      Cii.  VI, 


for  the  Huguenots  held  not  an  inch  of  ground  north  of  the 
Loire,  outside  of  the  castle  of  Angers  ;  if,  indeed,  venturesome 
Rochemorte  perchance  still  held  out  against  such  odds.  And 
the  Loire  was  a  dangerous  river,  first  to  cross,  and  still  more  to 
have  between  one's  self  and  one's  companions  in  arms.  Still 
Conde  pushed  forward  with  a  force  of  seven  or  eight  hundred 
horse  and  ten  or  twelve  hundred  foot,  and  at  Les  Rosiers,  be- 
tween Saumur  and  Angers,  effected  a  crossing  to  the  nortliern 
bank.  But  when  he  reached  the  neighborhood  of  Angers,  and 
skirmished  even  in  the  subui'bs  of  the  place,  he  found  that  he 
had  come  too  late.  'No  friendly  signal  was  held  forth  from  the 
castle,  in  answer  to  the  clarion's  inspiriting  notes.  "Weeks  had 
elapsed,  and  lioeheniorte  had  been  compelled  at  length  to 
surrender  to  the  enemy,  in  sheer  despair  of  receiving  any 
i-einforcement  or  provisions  from  his  brethren  in  the  faith. 
And  now  the  question  pressed  upon  Conde  and  his  army,  How 
should  they  extricate  themselves  from  the  net  into  which  they 

had  been  so  eager  to  plunge  ?  Laval,  indeed,  and  a 
escape  of  his  part  of  the  troops  were  so  fortunate  as  to  cross  safely 

again  to  the  southern  bank  of  the  Loire  at  the  same 
place  where  Conde  had  a  few  days  before  been  ferried  over  the 
river  ;  bi;t  before  the  remainder  of  the  army  could  follow  their 
example,  two  large  covered  boats  made  their  appearance,  laden 
with  cannon  and  armed  men,  and  it  was  deemed  too  foolhardy 
an  undertaking  to  brave  this  fresh  danger.  While,  therefore, 
Laval  pressed  on  southward  toward  Poitou,  the  prince  was  com- 
pelled to  turn  in  the  opposite  direction,  and,  leaving  his  peril- 
ous position  in  the  contracted  tongue  of  land  between  the  Loire 
and  the  Authion,  to  make  his  way  to  the  Loire,  which  he  crossed 
with  difficulty  at  Le  Lude.  But  an  advance  in  this  direction 
was  not  promising.  In  front  Epernon,  Biron,  and  other  nobles 
from  the  court,  and  troops  of  horse  and  regiments  of  foot,  were 
coming  to  meet  the  Huguenots,  and  had  proceeded  as  far  as 
Bonneval,  midway  from  Paris.  From  Orleans  came  the  alarm- 
ing news  that  the  Duke  of  Mayenne  had  crossed  the  Loire  at 


the  castle  of  Angers,  the  prince  made  a  fatal  delay  of  eleven  daj's  before  leav- 
ing Brouage. 


1585. 


ENTERPRISE  OF  ANGERS. 


379 


that  point  with  fifteen  hundred  reiters  and  French  horse,  ready 
to  cut  off  the  retreat  of  Conde  should  he  succeed  in  reaching 
the  southern  bank.  Lest,  however,  he  should  have  the  oppor- 
tunity to  do  so,  La  Chastre  had  seen  to  it  that  the  Hugue- 
nots should  find  no  bridge,  boat,  or  mill  to  serve  their  purpose. 
The  Duke  of  Joyeuse  was  behind  the  Huguenots.  In  every 
direction  the  towns  and  villages  were  on  the  lookout,  ready  at 
the  first  sound  of  the  tocsin,  to  meet  and  aid  in  harassing  them. 

Under  these  discouraging  circumstances,  the  prince  was 
spared  the  necessity  of  choice  between  the  desperate  alterna- 
tive of  making  a  stand  against  a  far  larger  number  of  the 
enemy,  and  permitting  his  army  to  break  up  into  small  bodies, 
eacli  of  which  should  seek  safety  as  best  it  could.  The  Hugue- 
nots had  quietly  adopted  the  latter  course  of  their  own  accord, 
and  nothing  remained  but  to  acquiesce  in  their  decision.  It 
speaks  well  for  the  valor  of  these  heroes  of  many  past  engage- 
ments that  their  very  name  had  spread  such  consternation 
among  their  foes  that  none  seemed  anxious  to  come  near 
enough  to  watch  their  movements  very  closely.  And  so  with 
a  uniformity  which  would  scarcely  be  credited  but  for  the  un- 
impeachable evidence  by  which  it  is  sustained,  the  Huguenots, 
although  by  the  most  various  routes,  succeeded,  with  scarcely 
the  loss  of  a  man  by  the  way,  in  reaching  some  point  of  safety. 
The  Duke  of  Rohan  escaped  to  his  great  domains  in  Brittany, 
and  was  out  of  danger  among  his  ancestral  retainers.  The 
Prince  of  Conde  managed  to  reach  the  shores  of  the  English 
Channel,  whence  he  sailed  to  the  island  of  Guernsey,  and  soon 
after  accepted  the  hospitality  of  Queen  Elizabeth  of  England. 
Some  of  the  minor  chiefs  owed  their  salvation  to  boldness  and 
tiie  unexpected  paths  they  chose.  Thus  Agrippa  d'Aubigne, 
with  a  band  of  thirty  Protestant  horsemen,  first  struck  boldly 
far  in  the  direction  of  the  capital,  then  suddenly  turned,  and, 
reaching  the  Loire  at  Saint  Die,  between  Blois  and  Beaugency, 
succeeded,  almost  against  hope,  in  crossing.  Next  following 
the  course  of  the  river  Cher  for  twenty-five  leagues  to  Saint 
Florent,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Bourges,  the  little  company, 
although  much  farther  from  Brouage  than  when  they  first 
started  from  the  walls  of  Angers,  easily  made  their  way  to  the 


380 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.        Cu.  VI. 


sea.  Other  captains  rescued  their  followers  by  almost  equally 
circuitous  routes,  and  met  with  adventures  not  less  romantic. 
The  safe  deliverance  of  the  whole  of  Conde's  army  has  scarcely 
a  parallel  in  history.' 

The  failure  and  dispersion  of  Conde's  army  thus  proved  less 
serious  in  their  consequences  than  might  have  been  apprehended. 
In  fact,  the  Huguenots  were  probably  better  off  than  they  would 
have  been  had  they  succeeded  in  tlu-owing  themselves  into  the 
castle  of  Angers  and  thus  obtaining  a  foothold  on  the  north  of 
the  Loire ;  since,  but  for  the  return  of  Laval  to  Saint  Jean 
d'Angely,  the  Protestants  of  the  provinces  of  Aunis  and 
Saintonge  would  scarcely  have  had  a  competent  leader  or  suf- 
ficient troops  to  ward  off  the  attacks  of  the  enemy.  There  was 
another  respect,  however,  in  which  the  result  was  less  favorable 
to  the  cause  for  which  they  were  fighting.  Exaggerated  reports, 
for  some  time  left  uncontradicted,  magnified  disappointment 
into  disaster,  and  timid  men,  already  a  prey  to  extreme  fear, 
could  hardly  be  expected  to  look  for  the  speedy  reassembling 
of  the  prince's  array  apparently'  scattered  to  the  four  winds  of 
heaven. 

Bravely  as  had  the  King  of  Xavarre  and  his  followers  en- 
tered upon  the  war,  strong  as  was  the  confidence  they  expressed 
,        of  ultimately  achievincr  success,  with  the  blessina;  of 

General  dis-  JO'  o 

of  the^^'"*'"*  Heaven  ever  vouchsafed  to  oppressed  innocence,  the 
Huguenots,  autumu  of  the  year  of  grace  15S5  was  certainly  one 
of  the  darkest  hours  of  their  history.  In  the  prospect  before 
them  there  were  few  gleams  of  light.    The  most  hopeful  of 


'  For  the  history  of  the  enterprise  of  Angers  see  the  detailed  account  en- 
titled "  Discours  du  premier  passage  de  Monsieur  le  Due  de  Mercure  (Mer- 
coeur)  au  bas  Poictou,  de  sa  deroute  et  fuitte.  Du  siege  de  Brouage  par 
Jlonseigneur  le  Prince  de  Conde  et  de  son  voyage  d' Angers,"  reprinted  in 
Memoires  de  la  Ligue,  ii.  1-53.  Also,  the  admirable  narrative  in  the  Recueil 
des  choses  memorables,  028-633;  De  Thou,  vi.  (book  82)  523-536  ;  Agrippa 
d'Aubigne,  who  was  not  only  an  ej'e-witness,  but  an  active  participant,  ii. 
440-452.  Busini,  who  had  no  love  for  the  Huguenots,  in  his  letter  of  Novem- 
ber 4,  1585,  expresses  admiration  of  Conde's  boldness,  and  repeats  a  remark 
ascribed  to  the  prince  when  remonstrated  with  :  "I  poltroni  non  mi  segui- 
ranno,  come  so  fara  che  ara.  cuore."  Negociations  avec  la  Toscane,  iv.  595. 
Busbecq,  in  his  letter  of  November  15,  1585  (fol.  97  verso),  is  less  accurate  in 


15S5. 


THE  HUGUENOTS  PROSCRIBED. 


3S1 


Huguenots  could  scarcely  regard  as  extravagant  the  statement 
of  their  leader,  already  referred  to,  that  their  enemies  had,  by 
the  infamous  compact  of  Xemours,  prepared  them  enough 
trouble  to  last  an  entire  lifetime.  Protestantism  had  often 
before  been  threatened  with  annihilation ;  but  never  liad  the 
plan  been  so  calmly  and  resolutely  laid,  never  had  its  pi'ojectors 
adopted  such  precautions  against  the  possibility  that  the  king's 
determination  might  give  way,  never  before  had  his  majesty  been 
so  distinctly  warned  that  an  attempt  to  make  peace  with  or  to 
spare  heretics  would  infallibly  cost  him  his  crown.  Xo  wonder 
that  dejection  fell  like  a  pall  upon  great  numbers  of  the  Protes- 
tants. And  now  when,  in  the  very  first  months  of  the  war,  came 
tidings,  false  though  they  subsequently  proved,  of  the  complete 
destri;ction  of  Conde's  army,  even  those  seemed  for  the  moment 
dazed  who  until  now  had  retained  full  possession  of  their  senses. 
Their  opponents  took  good  care  not  to  let  the  opportunity  pass 
by  unimproved.  Many  of  them  believed  that  the  hopes  of 
Protestantism  were  buried  in  the  same  grave  with  its  most 
daring  champion.'  Xothing  was  therefore  spared  to  hasten  the 
return  of  the  Ilufjuenots  to  the  Romish  Church.  The  kino's 
second  edict  "  of  reunion,"  shortening  the  term  within  which 
all  Protestants  must  either  abjure  or  leave  the  kingdom,  from 
six  months  to  a  fortnight,  and  menacing  all  that  refused  with 
dire  punishment,  came  in  good  time  to  add  to  the  general  dis- 
may. 

Jesuit  preachers,  parish  priests,  and  monks  thundered  from 
every  pulpit  and  every  confessional  in  France  against  the  Cal- 
vinistic  heretics.  If  they  failed  to  persuade  the  Protestant  to 
abjure,  they  either  excited  the  people  to  attack  them  or  pressed 
the  civil  magistrates,  already  more  than  usually  inclined  to  rigor- 
ous measures  against  the  Huguenots,  to  pursue  them  with  the  full 


describing  Conde's  movements,  but  adds  an  interesting  rumor  that  the  king 
liad  ordered  the  destruction  of  the  castle  of  Angers. 

'  "  La  fureur  se  renflamma  par  tout  universellement  contre  ceus  de  la 
Religion  :  car  ceux  du  party  coutraire  estimans  Monsieur  le  Prince  perdu 
(pource  qu'on  fut  un  fort  long  temps  sans  scavoir  qu'il  estoit  devenu), 
jugeoient  que  la  foy  et  esperance  de  tons  ceux  de  la  Religion  estoit  aussi 
avec  luy  ensevelie."    Mcmoires  de  la  Ligue.  ii.  174,  175. 


3S2 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.      Cu.  VL 


terrors  of  the  law.  Men  and  women  who  had,  on  some  previous 
occasion,  apostatized  from  the  Protestant  faith,  and  persons  sus- 
pected of  favoring  that  faith,  were  naturally  distinguished  for 
the  persecuting  zeal  which  they  exhibited,  and  whereby  they 
strove  to  prove  their  unimpeachable  orthodoxy.  To  the  threats 
and  malicious  exertions  of  enemies  were  added  the  more  insid- 
ious and  powerful  suggestions  of  friends  and  relatives,  of  parents 
and  children,  of  brothers  and  sisters,  all  reinforcing  the  natural 
instinct  for  self-preservation,  and  urging  weak  believers  to  the 
cowardly  but  profitable  step  of  submission  to  the  authority  of 
a  hated  ecclesiastical  system.  Such  is  the  picture  of  the  deplor- 
able state  and  of  the  mental  conflict  of  great  numbers  of  the 
Protestants  of  France  drawn  by  a  coutemporarj-  writer.'  That 
it  is  a  faithful  delineation,  neither  distorted  by  exaggeration  nor 
disfigured  bv  excess  of  color,  appears  from  the  cou- 

A  gieat  num-  °  "  .  r   \  • 

ber  of  apos-  tirmatory  representations  of  Agnppa  d  Aubigne,  who 
assures  us  that  the  terror  inspired  by  the  prescriptive 
edicts  of  Henry  the  Third  drove  three  times  as  many  Hugue- 
nots to  mass  as  the  massacre  of  Saint  Bartholomew's  Day  had 
driven.' 

Happily  for  the  f utm'e  of  Protestantism  in  France,  the  timid 
and  wavering  did  not  constitute  the  majority,  nor,  in  fact,  any- 
thing but  a  comparatively  unimportant  part  of  those  upon 
whom  the  King  of  Xavarre  and  the  Prince  of  Conde  relied. 
Xot  to  speak  of  the  Huguenots  who,  while  remaining  in  their 
homes  and  exposed  both  to  the  assaults  of  hatred  and  the  se- 
Fiightinto  ductions  of  friendship,  successfully  resisted  the  most 
foreign  lands,  gtrenuous  efforts  to  move  them  from  their  religious 
convictions,  there  were  many  that  early  deemed  it  the  part 
of  prudence  to  seek  some  safe  refuge.  Entire  families  tem- 
porarily forsook  their  native  land.  From  the  northern  prov- 
inces Huguenots  fled  in  great  numbers  to  the  principality  of 
Sedan  or  to  contiguous  parts  of  Protestant  Germany.    To  the 

'  Memoires  de  la  Ligue,  ii.  175. 

-  "  Ce  coup  nou  atteudu,  et  bien  tost  redouble  par  un  second  Edit  qui  ac- 
courcissoit  les  tennes  de  moitie,  donna  un  tel  effroi  par  toutes  les  parts  du 
Royaume,  qu'il  fit  aller  a  la  messe  trois  fois  plus  de  EefFormez  que  n'avoit  fait 
la  journee  de  S.  Bartlielemi."    Agrippa  d' Aubigne,  ii.  484. 


1585. 


HUGUENOT  DISCOURAGEMENT. 


383 


inhabitants  of  the  east,  Switzerland,  as  usual,  threw  wide  open 
its  hospitable  doors.  The  Huguenots  of  the  western  seaboard 
either  pressed  into  La  Rochelle  and  Saint  Jean  d'Angely  or, 
taking  ship,  passed  over  into  England,  to  swell  the  already  con- 
siderable colony  of  French  Protestant  refugees  that  worshipped, 
according  to  their  accustomed  rites,  in  the  chapel  in  Thread- 
needle  Street,  London,  given  to  them  by  Edward  the  Sixth, 
or  with  the  Walloons  in  the  crypt  of  Canterbury  Cathedral.' 
Dieppe,  in  Isormandy,  being  specially  favored  by  its  situation 
on  the  British  Channel,  wathin  a  few  hours'  sail  of  the  southern 
shores  of  England,  witnessed  the  exodus  of  nearly  its  entire  Prot- 
estant population.  Its  Huguenot  church,  with  the  pastors,  Car- 
tault  and  de  Licques,  passed  over  almost  in  a  body  to  Rye,  in 
Sussex,  where  it  resumed  its  interrupted  services,  and  main- 
tained its  worship  until  the  advent  of  better  times  permitted  a 
return  to  France.  Other  Xorman  Huguenots,  including  some 
from  Dieppe,  founded  a  new  French  Protestant  church  at  Wiu- 
chelsea,  a  few  miles  from  Rye,  with  M.  de  la  Touche  as  pastor. 
It  was  a  characteristic  circumstance  that  the  refugees  from 
Dieppe  did  not  forget  their  fellow-believers  who  had  remained 
behind — even  those  who,  to  save  their  property,  had  been  so 
weak  as  to  go  to  mass — but  in  the  famine  that  visited  France 
in  1586,  sent  them  not  only  grain,  but  even  bread  straight  from 
their  ovens  in  a  strange  land.''  Nor  were  the  Huguenot  fugitives 
treated  with  harshness  untempered  by  humanity,  even  in  some 
The  Huguenots  ciuartcrs  whcro  little  kindness  was  to  be  anticipated, 
in  Savoy.  About  the  middle  of  November,  the  Duke  of  Savoy, 
having  learned  that  divers  French  Protestants  had  come  to 
the  city  of  Nice,  with  the  intention  of  settling  there  or  in,  the 
vicinity,  felt  compelled  to  refuse  them  permission  to  remain. 


'  See  Ch.  Weiss,  Histoire  des  Refugies  protestants,  i.  257-265. 
See  the  interesting  account  given  in  the  Histoire  de  la  Reformation  a 
Dieppe,  par  Guillaume  et  Jean  Daval,  iirst  published  by  the  Societe  Rouen- 
naise  de  Bibliophiles  (Rouen,  1878),  i.  135,  130.  The  editor  has  erroneously 
read  Winchester  instead  of  Winchelsea.  A  glance  at  the  map  would  have 
shown  him  that  the  description,  "  distante  de  la  Rye  d'environ  deux  mille," 
would  hardly  apply  to  the  city  of  Wiuchester,  which  is  not  far  from  one  hun- 
dred miles  distant  iu  a  straight  line. 


384  THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.       Ch.  VI. 

but  accompanied  his  refusal  with  kindly  instructions.  "  Our 
council  of  state,"  wrote  the  dulve  to  the  governor,  "  has  learned 
that  his  majesty  the  King  of  France  has  ordered  the  adherents 
of  the  new  religion  to  leave  his  realm.  We  know,  moreover, 
that  some  of  them  have  crossed  the  borders  and  are  preparing 
to  sojourn  in  our  states.  It  seems  proper  for  me  to  give  \on 
some  directions  on  this  score.  I  desire  vou  to  see  them,  and  to 
tell  them  quietly,  with  all  gentleness  and  modesty,  that,  for  very 
grave  reasons,  and  through  motives  worthy  of  respect,  we  can- 
not allow  them  to  remain  long  in  our  dominions.  Thej'  must 
leave  in  three  days ;  but  we  command  that  not  only  they  be 
subjected  to  no  annoyances  while  crossing  our  lands,  but  be 
treated  with  all  favor  and  receive  all  convenient  help  by  the 
way.  You  will  see  to  the  faithful  execution  of  these  instruc- 
tions, in  so  far  as  concerns  you,  and  thus  doing  will  have  our 
approval."  ' 

Meanwhile  the  clergy  did  not  neglect  the  advantage  which 
the  wide-spread  fear  of  the  Protestants  put  into  their  hands. 
^  ^  The  king  was  induced  to  resort  to  measures  more  and 
of  Protestants  moi'e  decided.  A  new  order,  issued  just  before  Christ- 
mas, strictly  enjoined  upon  all  bailiffs  and  seneschals 
throughout  the  kingdom  to  draw  np  a  general  roll  of  the  Prot- 
estants within  their  respective  jurisdictions.  On  this  roll  five 
classes  were  to  be  carefully  distinguished :  all  persons,  of  what- 
ever profession,  at  present  in  arms  against  his  majesty  ;  all  that, 
having  borne  arms,  had  consented  to  submit  and  be  converted  ; 
all  who  had  retired  from  France  in  obedience  to  the  edict ; 
such  as  had  remained  in  their  homes  and  had  declared  their 
intention  to  live  in  a  Catholic  fashion ;  and,  lastly,  such  as 
^  stayed  at  home  but  still  persisted  in  their  old  opinions.  Against 
the  first  and  last  of  these  classes  the  procedure  by  confiscation 
of  property  was  laid  down  with  great  precision,  while  as  for 
those  who  professed  a  willingness  to  embrace  the  Roman  Catho- 
lic religion,  it  was  declared  that  their  abjuration  of  Protestant- 
ism must  be  made,  not  before  simple  curates  who  had  no  power 


'  Charles  Emmanuel  to  the  Count  of  Boglio,  November  13,  1585,  French 
translation  given  by  Gaberel,  Histoire  de  I'Eglise  de  Geneve,  i.  483,  484. 


1585. 


HUGUENOT  DISCOURAGEMENT. 


385 


to  grant  them  absolution,  but  solely  before  bishops,  archbishops, 
or  their  vicars.'  The  king's  proclamation  was  industriously  cir- 
culated in  every  part  of  France,  accompanied  by  episcopal  re- 
sci'ipts  and  formulas  of  abjuration. 

The  authors  and  instruments  of  religious  persecution  can 
never  rid  themselves  of  one  formidable  difficulty.  The  human 
intellect  is  proof  against  violence  ;  it  will  yield  only  to  per- 
suasion. Men  may  be  forced  to  make  a  profession  of  faith,  but 
it  is  always  at  the  risk  and  often  with  the  certainty  of  trans- 
forming them  into  hypocrites.  Between  the  ardent  desire  to 
gain  proselytes  and  the  honest  dread  of  multiplying  insincere 
members  of  their  communion,  conscientious  persecutors  have 
frequently  found  themselves  involved  in  hopeless  embarrass- 
ment. 

Such  a  dilenmia  confronted  the  bishops  of  France,  and  vainly 
did  they  strive  to  escape  it.  "  "We  have  been  duly  informed," 
says  Bishop  Ruse,  of  Angers,  in  his  preamble,  "  that  certain 
Perplexity  o£  P^rsous  of  our  diocesc,  following  the  new  opinions  of 
catiw'ii?'"^  the  heretics  of  our  times,  and  being  unwilling  to  ab- 
bishopg.  j^^j.g  t]ieir  souls,  nevertheless  intend  to  avail  them- 
selves of  the  king's  edict,  and,  contrary  to  his  majesty's  inten- 
tion, to  profess  with  the  mouth,  and  not  from  the  heart,  the 
articles  proposed  by  our  holy  Mother  the  Catholic,  Apostolic, 
and  lioman  Church,  reserving  for  themselves  in  their  assemblies 
this  excuse,  that  they  conformed  to  the  times,  and  obeyed  the 
king's  edicts,  in  order  to  live  in  accordance  with  law.  In  proof 
whereof  they  employ  in  their  protestations  these  words,  'since 
it  is  the  king's  pleasure,'  etc.,  thinking  by  this  means  to  cover 
their  professions  which  are  altogether  contrary."  Thereupon 
the  bishop  declares  that  such  is  not  his  majesty's  purpose — his 
desire  being  to  invite  those  that  have  gone  astray  to  come  back 
to  the  right  way,  not  to  furnish  a  mask  for  hypocrites.  The 
gift  of  such  holy  things  as  the  sacraments  of  the  Church  to 
false  brethren  not  only  redounds  to  the  dishonor  of  God  and  is 

'  "  Reglement  que  le  Roy  veut  estre  observe  par  les  Baillifs  et  Seneschaux 
ou  leurs  lieutenans,  pour  I'execution  de  I'edict  de  sa  Majeste  sur  la  reunion 
de  ses  sujects  a  I'Eglise  Catliolique,"  etc. ,  Paris,  December  23,  1585.  Memoires 
de  la  Ligue,  i.  301-30G. 

Vol.  I.— 25 


3S6  THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.       Ch.  VI. 


expressly  forbidden  by  the  Lord,  but  involves  the  perdition  of 
the  unworthy  recipients,  who  by  lying  against  the  Holy  Ghost 
incur  the  curse  pronounced  upon  Ananias  and  Sapphira. 

The  confession  of  faith,  which  the  bishop  next  laid  down  as 
an  indispensable  prerequisite  for  the  absolution  of  the  new  con- 
vert, was  certainly  comprehensive  enough  to  satisfy  the  most 
A  confession  scrupulous  Iloman  Catholic,  though  it  might  be  hard 
of  faith  im-      ggg  what  precautiou  it  afforded  against  insincere 

posed  on  con-  r  D 

verts.  profession.  In  addition  to  the  entire  Jsicene  creed, 
it  comprehended  a  distinct  recognition  of  the  authority  of  tra- 
dition, of  the  Church  as  the  sole  interpreter  of  the  Holy  Script- 
ures, of  the  seven  sacraments,  of  transubstantiation,  of  purga- 
tory, of  the  worship  of  saints  and  images,  of  indulgences,  of  the 
Church  of  Rome  as  the  mother  and  mistress  of  all  churches, 
of  the  pope  as  true  successor  of  Saint  Peter  and  vicar  of  Jesus 
Christ  on  earth,  and  of  the  authority  of  the  Council  of  Trent. 
The  whole  concluded  with  a  formal  rendering  of  thanks  to  the 
king  for  his  sovereign  goodness  in  granting  a  term  of  grace 
within  which  the  subscriber  might  recognize  his  errors  and  re- 
turn to  the  good  path  from  which  he  had  gone  astray.  And 
(apparently  lest  the  thanksgiving  should  be  suspected  of  insin- 
cerity) the  imfortunate  Huguenot  was  required  to  make  the 
following  additional  guarantee  : 

"  I  protest  that  herein  I  am  not  forced  nor  compelled  by  the 
edict  of  the  king  or  otherwise,  but  purely  and  frankly  induced 
Additional  brouglit  back  by  a  desire  to  emerge  from  the 

guarantee  of  error  in  which  I  have  until  now  been  plunged,  and 

snicerity.  o  ' 

henceforth  to  pursue  the  path  which  I  must  follow 
for  the  salvation  of  my  soul.  This  I  protest,  with  heart  as  well 
as  with  mouth,  praying  God  that  if  I  dissemble  in  this  matter, 
and  have  aught  in  my  heart  but  what  I  have  said  with  my 
mouth.  He  may  put  forth  His  vengeance  upon  me  to  the  ever- 
lasting damnation  of  my  soul."  ' 

In  so  puerile  a  fashion  was  the  incongruous  attempt  made  to 

'  "  Maniere  de  profession  de  foy  que  doivent  tenir  ceuxdudioceze  d' Angers, 
qui  se  voudront  remettre  au  giron  de  nostra  S.  Mere  I'Eglise  Catolique, 
Apostolique,  et  Romaiiie.  Laquelle  maniere  a  este  presque  suyvie  par  tout 
le  Royaume."    Memoires  de  la  Ligue,  i.  30G-310. 


1585. 


HUGUENOT  DISCOURAGEMENT. 


387 


force  the  Huguenots  to  a  sincere  and  voluntary  acceptance  of 
every  tenet  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church. 

That  a  certain  amount  of  apparent  success  rewarded  the  ef- 
forts of  the  clergy,  in  securing  at  least  an  external  conformity 
pnstorai  re-  practiccs  of  that  churcli,  is  seen  from  letters, 

monstrances.  g|.;]j  preserved,  in  which  Protestant  pastors  strove  to 
recall  to  the  path  of  duty  the  numerous  members  of  their  flocks 
who  had  gone  astray.  Themselves  forbidden  by  the  Edict  of 
Xemours  to  hold  any  religious  exercises,  on  pain  of  death,  and 
allowed  but  a  single  month  to  leave  the  kingdom,  these  faith- 
ful ministers  had  for  the  most  part  sought  some  nearer  refuge 
than  a  foreign  land  would  have  afforded  them.  From  the  sea- 
girt walls  of  La  Rochelle  or  from  Saint  Jean  d'Angely — that 
plague-sti'icken  Huguenot  city  which  owed  its  safety  less  to  its 
strength  than  to  the  fear  entertained  by  its  enemies  of  the  con- 
tagion raging  within — they  raised  loud  voices  of  remonstrance, 
and  exerted  themselves  strenuously  to  resist  a  current  of  apos- 
tasy which,  if  too  strong  for  the  moment  to  be  successfully  re- 
sisted, was  fortunately  destined  soon  to  spend  its  strength.' 

It  would  have  been  well  had  weakness  and  dissension  been 
confined  to  the  inferior  ranks  in  the  Huguenot  party.  Unfort- 
jeaiousy  uuately  they  reached  even  the  leaders,  and  the  King 
among  the         ^^^avarrc  and  his  cousin,  the  Prince  of  Conde,  be- 

Huguenot  '  ' 

leaders.  to  betray  symptoms  of  mutual  jealousy.  The 

courtiers  of  the  Bearnais  are  said  not  to  have  been  ashamed  to 
make  the  misadventure  of  Angers  a  subject  for  their  ill-timed 
jesting,  l^ever  before  had  Henry  so  distinctly  shown  that  sel- 
fish motives  were  more  potent  with  him  than  religious  con- 
siderations.   To  those  who  saw  him  from  near  at  hand  he 


'  See  the  letter  of  L.  Blachiere  to  the  Church  of  Niort  and  Saint  Gelais,  from 
La  Rochelle,  December  20,  1585,  Memoires  de  la  Ligue,  i.  311-333;  and  that 
of  Jean  de  I'Espine  to  the  Church  of  Angers,  from  Saint  Jean  d'Angely, 
February  25,  1580,  ibid.,  i.  323-330.  The  former  writes:  "  J'entens  que  le 
iiombre  est  tres-grand  entre  vous  de  ceux  qui  ont  apostate  et  renonce  la  verite 
de  I'Evangile  ;"  the  latter:  ''De  jour  en  jour  nous  n'avons  aucunes  nouvelles 
de  vous,  sinon  que  la  plus  part  se  revoltent  et  se  departent  de  la  Religion,  la- 
quelle  ils  ne  peuvent  ignorer  estre  la  vraye."  Both  expressions  should  proba- 
bly be  taken  with  some  allowance  for  the  excitement  under  which  the  writers 
labored. 


3S8 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.        Cn.  VI 


appeared  in  an  entirely  new  light.  He  seemed,  said  the}-,  to 
have  forgotten  the  sufferings  of  the  Huguenots  whose  defence 
against  an  unjust  proscription  he  had  espoused,  and  prated  only 
of  the  necessity  of  preserving  the  state  and  making  himself  in- 
dispensable to  the  King  of  France.'  Evidently  some  of  Henry's 
most  intimate  friends  began  to  fear,  as  the  Florentine  Cavriana 
began  to  hope,  that  sooner  or  later  the  great  Protestant  leader 
would  subordinate  liis  personal  predilections  in  matters  of 
faith  to  supposed  political  exigencies,  and  would  infallibly  aban- 
don the  doctrines  which,  in  his  own  words,  he  had  imbibed 
with  his  mother's  milk,  rather  than  forfeit  a  possible  claim  to 
the  crown  of  the  Very  Christian  King.  And  yet,  it  must  not 
be  forgotten  that  the  expressions  of  Huguenot  distrust,  though 
assigned  to  the  period  now  under  investigation,  were  not  re- 
corded xmti]  long  after,  at  a  date  subsequent  to  the  formal  ab- 
juration of  1593,  and  probably  receive  a  very  decided  coloring 
from  events  that  were  yet  to  come.  For  the  present,  if  less 
inclined  to  look  at  the  situation  in  which  the  Huguenots  were 
placed  from  the  stand-point  of  the  "  consistorial "  party,  Henry 
of  Xavarre  displayed  to  the  world  no  hesitation  in  the  main- 
tenance of  the  good  cause. 

Of  this  the  papers  he  published  on  the  first  day  of  the  new 
year  sufficiently  testified.  Three  were  letters  addressed  re- 
Henrv  of  Na-  spectivcly  to  the  three  orders  of  the  kingdom  ;  the 
tothecity^of  fourth  was  a  letter  to  the  City  of  Paris  in  particular, 
fhc  three  spoke  in  the  tone  of  one  who  is  M-ell  con- 

orders.  yiuced  of  the  perfect  justice  of  his  position  and  the 
unrighteousness  of  his  opponents.  In  fact,  Henry  of  Yalois 
had  spared  him  the  necessity  of  much  argument  on  that  score, 
by  his  solemn  and  reiterated  declarations  to  the  world,  not  a 
year  since,  to  the  effect  that  the  authors  of  the  League  were 
enemies  of  the  crown  and  disturbers  of  the  public  peace  and 
tranquillity.  After  that,  it  was  self-evident  that  any  contrary 
declarations  of  his  majesty  could  only  be  the  result  of  com- 


'  "  Joint  que  le  roi  de  Navarre  jouoit  im  personnage  nouveau,  ne  parlant 
plus  que  de  conserver  I'Estat,  et  aiant  mis  les  passions  Huguenottes  en 
crouppe,"  etc.    Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  ii.  453. 


1586. 


HENRY  OF  NAVARRE'S  APPEALS. 


389 


pulsion  or  fear.  Uuder  these  circumstances,  Henry  adapted 
each  of  his  letters  with  great  art  to  the  character  and  attitude 
His  appeal  to  ^^^^^  ^^^^  cstatcs.  To  the  clergy  he  spoke  with 
the  clergy.  mingled  kindness  and  decision.  He  begged  God  to 
open  their  eyes  to  the  hypocrisy  of  the  authors  of  the  League, 
who  had  not  scrupled  to  light  a  fire  at  the  four  corners  of  the 
kingdom,  nor  hesitated  to  seek  private  revenge  for  fancied  in- 
sults by  originating  a  universal  calamity.  But  he  added  :  "  I 
do  not  fear  (and  God  knows  it)  the  evil  that  may  befall  me, 
either  from  your  money  or  from  their  arms.  Both  the  one  and 
the  other  have  already  been  employed  often  enough  in  vain.  I 
commiserate  the  poor,  innocent  people  which  suffers  almost 
alone  from  these  acts  of  folly.  I  commiserate  even  a  goodly 
number  of  yourselves,  who  contribute  to  the  ambition  of  these 
disturbers — you  giving  of  your  poverty,  they  scarce  from  their 
abundance.  I  bewail  chiefly  the  fault  you  are  all  committing, 
some  from  one  motive,  others  from  another,  who  will  one  day 
have  to  answer  to  this  kingdom  and  to  your  native  land  for  the 
misery  into  which  you  are  plunging  them."  He  remonstrated 
with  the  clergy  for  neglecting  the  offers  he  had  made  in  his 
declaration,  and  assured  them  that  the  bolts  hurled  at  him  by 
the  pope  gave  him  no  solicitude.  "  It  is  God,"  said  he,  "  that 
disposes  both  of  kings  and  of  kingdoms,  and  your  predecessors, 
who  were  better  Christians  and  better  Frenchmen  than  the 
promoters  of  this  bull,  have  taught  us  sufficiently  that  the  popes 
have  no  supervision  over  this  state."  The  writer  did  not  hold 
the  entire  body  of  the  clergy  responsible  for  the  malicious  per- 
secution set  on  foot  against  him,  preferring  to  believe  it  to  be 
"  the  plot  of  a  few  persons  instigated  from  abroad,  perhaps  by 
the  inspiration  of  certain  Jesuits,  the  seed  of  Spain,  enemies 
of  the  welfare  of  this  kingdom.  May  God  grant  that  they  be 
as  prompt  in  abstaining  from  mischief  in  future,  as  I  now  feel 
myself  ready  to  pardon  them."  "  What  remains  for  me  to  say," 
added  the  Bearnais,  by  way  of  conclusion,  "  is  this :  God  has 
given  me  my  birth  as  a  Christian  prince.  I  desire  the  strength- 
ening, growth  and  peace  of  the  Christian  religion.  AVe  believe 
in  one  God  ;  we  acknowledge  one  Jesus  Christ ;  we  receive  one 
and  the  same  Gospel.    If  in  the  interpretation  of  the  same 


390  THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.       Ch.  VI 


passages  we  have  dilfered,  I  believe  that  the  gentle  means 
which  I  proposed  might  have  brought  ns  to  an  agreement.  I 
believe  the  war  you  are  so  ardently  prosecuting  to  be  unworthy 
of  Christians,  unworthy  among  Christians,  unworthy  above  all 
of  those  who  pretend  to  be  teachers  of  the  Gospel.  If  war 
pleases  you  so  much,  if  a  battle  delights  you  more  than  a  dis- 
pute, a  sanguinary  conspiracy  more  than  a  council,  I  wash  my 
hands  of  it.  The  blood  that  may  be  spilled  in  it  be  upon  your 
heads  !  I  know  that  the  curses  of  those  who  will  be  the  suf- 
ferers cannot  fall  upon  me ;  for  my  patience,  my  obedience,  and 
my  reasons  are  well  known.  I  look  for  the  blessing  of  God 
upon  my  just  defence.  Whom  I  entreat,  gentlemen,  to  give  you 
the  spirit  of  peace  and  union,  for  the  peace  of  this  state  and 
the  union  of  His  church." 

There  is  less  necessity  that  we  should  pause  to  examine  in 
detail  the  other  documents.    To  the  nobles  he  appealed  as  men 
of  honor  and  as  Frenchmen,  protesting  his  love  to 

His  remon-       ,  .  ,  .  r      t  •  t 

strances  ad-  them  all,  auQ  a  regret,  into  the  poignancy  ox  which 
nobles  and  no  strauger  could  enter,  when  their  blood  was  shed, 
commons.  think,  gentlemen,  that  I  fear  the  authors  of 

the  League.  I  know  what  violence  can  do  against  me.  My 
enemies  will  sooner  be  weary  of  assailing  me,  than  I  shall  be 
of  defending  myself."  To  the  commons,  Henry  reiterated  his 
deep  sympathy  with  them,  amid  the  disasters  into  which  they 
were  hurried  against  their  will.  He  ridiculed  the  pretence  of 
the  Leaguers  that  they  sought  to  lighten  financial  burdens,  and 
bring  back  the  taxes  to  the  scale  of  the  time  of  Louis  the 
Twelfth.'  He  called  attention  to  the  circumstance  that  the 
gift  of  two  hundred  thousand  crowns,  or  thereabouts,  by  the 
clergy,  was  only  a  bait  offered  for  the  purpose  of  inducing 
France  to  begin  a  war  in  which  the  poor  people  would  be  in- 
volved to  the  amount  of  millions.  Addressing  himself  to  the 
City  of  Paris,  he  spoke  in  more  confident  terms,  reminding  the 
municipal  authorities  of  their  recent  answer  when  appealed  to 


'  There  was  a  toncli  of  quiet  sarcasm  in  the  remark  which  he  threw  in : 
"  Et  desja,  qui  leur  eust  voulu  croire,  ils  se  faisoyent  surnommer  Peres  du 
Peuple. " 


1586. 


HENRY  OF  NAVARRE'S  APPEALS. 


391 


for  money,  that  these  troubles  had  not  arisen  through  their 
advice,  and  that  it  was  for  those  who  had  caused  the  war,  and 
not  for  them,  to  bear  the  burden  of  it.  "  Such  a  reply,"  said 
he,  "  you  are  not  accustomed  to  make  when  you  think  the  king's 
service  or  the  good  of  the  kingdom  to  be  in  question  ;  for  never 
have  subjects  been  more  generous  in  this  respect  than  you.  It 
is  the  answer  you  give  when  you  perceive  that  your  money  goes, 
not  for  the  restoration  of  the  kingdom,  as  you  are  told,  but  for 
its  ruin ;  when  you  clearly  see  that  your  jewels  are  demanded, 
not  to  furnish  the  ransom  of  a  King  Francis,  or  his  children, 
nor  of  a  King  John,  but  in  order  to  extintjuish  the  blood  and 
posterity  of  the  House  of  France,  and  to  reduce  your  king  to 
slavery  and  imprisonment." ' 

Public  documents  of  the  kind  we  have  been  examining  are 
chiefly  valuable  as  an  index  of  the  prevailing  sentiments  of 
parties ;  for,  however  cogent  their  reasoning,  they  are  wont 
either  not  to  be  read  at  all  by  the  persons  wliom  they  should 
influence,  or  to  be  robbed  of  their  weight  by  the  passions  and 
prejudices  of  those  who  peruse  them.  Unfortunately  the  ap- 
peals of  Henry  of  Xavarre  were  little  heard  or  heeded  amid  the 
tumult  of  active  warfare. 

As  yet,  however,  though  there  was  an  abundance  of  local 
conflicts,  nothing  significant  or  decisive  had  been  done  in 
Indecisive  ^rms.  Kavarro  was  busily  seeking  recruits  for  the 
warfare.  Protestaut  cause  in  Germany,  whither  Clervant, 
Segur,  Guitry,  and  Montmarin  had  been  sent,  to  take  advan- 
tage of  the  gathering  of  Casimir  and  many  of  the  Protestant 
princes  and  noblemen  at  Durlach,  at  the  nuptials  of  the  Mar- 
grave Ernest  of  Baden  and  the  daughter  of  the  late  elector 
palatine."  Henry  of  Valois,  indeed,  despatched  the  Duke  of 
Mayenne  in  the  direction  of  his  namesake  of  Navarre,  but, 
what  with  the  impediment  of  heavy  rains  and  the  nameless  ter- 


'  The  four  letters,  all  dated  at  Montauban,  January  1,  1586,  are  printed  in 
Memoires  de  la  Ligue,  i.  331-342  ;  Memoires  de  Diiplessis  Mornay,  iii-  286, 
etc.  ;  Lettres  missives  de  Henri  IV.,  ii.  165,  etc.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that 
they  were  composed  by  Duplessis  Mornay.  See  Recueil  des  choses  memo- 
rabies,  621,  and  De  Thou,  vi.  659,  etc. 

■■^  Mucius  to  Mendoza,  November  28, 1585,  De  Croze,  i.  364. 


392  THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.        Cn.  VI. 


rors  of  the  plague,  he  had  as  yet  no  victories  to  report.  The 
king  had  little  inclination  to  trouble  himself  about  the  war  into 
which  he  had  so  reluctantly  entered.  Again  foreign  ambassa- 
dors wrote  home  that  his  majesty  was  wholly  given  up  to  his 
new  ceremonies  and  to  a  life  of  seclusion,  so  that  men  feared  lest 
his  health  might  suffer,  and,  at  any  rate,  lest  he  would  plunge 
into  some  new  sort  of  hateful  superstition.'  Guise,  indeed,  was 
The  king's  importunate  in  his  demands  that  the  Icing  had  at 
mlny  'and^"^"  ^^^^  despatched  Schomberg  for  the  levy  of  eight  or 
Switzerland,  j^ij^e  thousand  "  reiters  "  and  six  thousand  Swiss.  As 
for  the  duke  himself,  his  own  letters  paint  a  very  vivid  picture  of 
his  mental  perturbation  and  unrest.  Constant  were  his  fears 
lest  the  boon  of  peace  so  longed  for  by  bleeding  France  might 
by  some  mischance  be  obtained  by  her ;  harrowing  his  com- 
plaints of  tlie  disastrous  effects  of  the  dilatoriness  of  the  foreign 
prince  upon  whose  bounty  he  was  a  dependent.  Tsotwithstand- 
ing  his  success  in  wringing  from  the  king  the  promise  of  a 
German  levy,  he  was  in  deep  distress  in  view  of  what  might 
happen.  Frenchmen  pitted  against  Frenchmen  might  possibly 
remember  that  one  and  the  same  blood  coursed  in 

Guise's  anx-     ...  -     ,  •  t  ^  ^ 

iety  lest  peace  their  vems,  and  thereupon  stop  to  consider  whether 

should  ensue.  iii  •        !  r-ii  in 

they  should  engage  m  the  unprontable  work  of  cut- 
ting each  other's  throats.  Such  was  the  dreadful  contingency 
which  the  pious  duke  prayed  that  heaven  might  in  mercy  fore- 
fend.  "  Yet,''  writes  he  to  the  Spanish  ambassador,  "  I  do  not 
cease  from  fearing  lest,  the  forces  of  both  parties  being  in  the 
field,  some  union  may  be  made,  by  means  of  which,  coming  to 
a  general  peace,  which  I  know  is  desired  above  all  things,  the 
whole  may  be  made  to  fall  upon  his  Catholic  Majesty  (Philip 
the  Second),  and  we  be  constrained  by  force  to  do  what  we  do 
not  wish  to  do  and  never  shall  do  of  our  own  accord."  ''  What 
was  deplorable  was  that,  had  the  Spanish  king  only  sent  help 


'  Letter  of  Busbecq,  December  6,  1585,  fol.  99. 

-  "Mais  pourtant  je  ne  laisse  a  craindre  que  les  forces  des  uns  et  des  autres 
estans  aux  cliamps,  il  ne  se  fasse  quelque  union  moyennant  laquelle  venant  a 
une  paix  generale,  que  je  S(,'ay  que  I'on  desire  sur  toutes  choses,  on  ne  fasse 
fondre  le  tout  sur  le  brasde  Sa  Mageste  catholique,"  etc.,  Mucins  to  Mendoza, 
November  2^,  1585,  De  Croze,  i.  364. 


15S6. 


PROSCRIPTION  OP  THE  HUGUENOTS. 


393 


in  time,  and  as  lie  was  asked  to  do,  there  would  have  been  no 
cause  of  solicitude.  Instead  of  which,  the  prudent  Philip  per- 
mitted four  whole  months — and  we  know  not  how  much  more 
— to  pass  without  vouchsaiing  an  answer  to  the  imploring  call 
of  his  good  friends  in  Finance,  and  the  League  was  at  its  wits' 
end  to  discover  upon  what  it  could  hereafter  count.' 

It  was  not  long  after  this  time  that  Ilenrj  of  Guise  resolved 
to  visit  Paris,  with  the  view  of  strengthening  the  power  of  the 
The  duke-s  en-  Lcaguc  ovcr  the  populacc  of  that  seditious  city.  His 
try  into  Paris,  gutry  resembled  a  triumph.  Great  was  the  desire  of 
the  Parisians  to  see  the  nobleman  who,  forsooth,  had  become 
the  principal  champion  of  orthodoxy,  and  had  forced  the  Very 
Christian  King  to  engage  in  the  work  of  destroying  heresy. 
Crowds  of  men,  women,  and  children  flocked  to  the  street 
through  which  he  was  to  come,  and  on  his  appearance  greeted 
him  with  loud  acclamations.  The  duke's  hat  was  in  his  hand 
almost  all  the  while  from  the  moment  he  entered  the  gate 
until  he  reached  his  stately  mansion.  The  nobles  looked  on 
with  little  satisfaction  at  this  popular  demonstration,  while  the 
judges  could  scarcely  disguise  their  want  of  sympathy.  "  They 
perceive,"  wrote  an  observing  stranger,  "  that  this  infamous 
League  is  ruinous  to  France,  and  that,  under  the  pretext  of  the 
propagation  of  the  Catholic  faith,  every  man  is  seeking  to  sat- 
isfy his  greedy  desires."  Once  within  the  walls  of  the  capital, 
Guise  betrayed  unmistakable  signs  of  the  anxiety  preying  upon 
him.  He  went  about  with  a  body-guard  of  nearly  two  hundred 
men.  The  cheerful  and  contented  looks  he  formerly  wore  had 
disappeared  from  his  countenance.  It  was  remarked  that,  al- 
tliough  he  was  only  thirty-five  years  of  age,  the  front  part  of 
his  hair  had  turned  altogether  white.  "  I  know  not  what  has 
caused  it  to  change,"  says  our  informant ;  "  whether  it  be  mental 
regret  for  the  offence  he  has  done  to  his  king,  or  annoj'ance  at 
not  having  succeeded  in  the  accomplishment  of  all  his  designs,  or, 
possibly,  he  may  be  meditating  some  new  revolution."  Mean- 
while Catharine  de'  Medici  was  profuse  in  her  demonstrations 
of  favor.    She  could  not  have  lavished  more  caresses  upon  him 


'  Mucius  to  Tassis,  December  31, 1585,  De  Croze,  i.  36G,  367. 


394  THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.       Ch.  VI 


had  he  been  her  son  ;  in  fact,  she  assured  him  that  she  loved 
him  as  much  as  if  he  had  been  her  own  offspring.  It  was  the 
current  impression  that  this  extraordinary  kindness  was  proof 
positive  that  the  queen  mother  had  been  Guise's  accomplice  in 
his  conspiracy  against  Henry  of  Valois.  The  physician  Cavri- 
ana — who,  as  a  compatriot,  better  understood  the  character 
of  the  great  Florentine  family — came  to  an  entirely  opposite 
conclusion,  and  regarded  the  story  as  a  base  calumny.'  Tlie 
Duke  of  Guise  prolonged  his  sojourn  in  the  capital  for  full 
three  months,  busily  employing  his  time  and  energies  in  the 
congenial  work  of  undermining  the  royal  authority  and  destroy- 
ing the  last  vestiges  of  the  good-will  once  entertained  for  the 
king  by  the  city  which,  above  all  his  predecessors,  Henry  had 
made  his  favorite  residence.^ 

The  military  exploits  of  the  general  who  takes  the  field  re- 
luctantly, and  only  after  interposing  all  manner  of  objections,  are 
The  Duke  of  wout  to  prove  Very  brilliant.  Charles  of  Mayenne, 
posefy p™"""  have  seen,  had  been  ordered  to  command  in 

crastinates.  the  south  of  Frauce,  and  to  co-operate  with  Marshal 
Matignon.  Certainly  no  duty  could  have  been  more  congenial 
to  a  zealous  Roman  Catholic  and  a  leader  of  the  League  second 
in  authority  only  to  his  brother,  the  Duke  of  Guise  himself. 
Here  was  a  fine  chance  to  display  enthusiasm  and  energy  in 
suppressing  heresy,  by  the  overthrow  of  the  King  of  Navarre 
and  his  confederate,  the  Duke  of  Montmorency.  But  unfort- 
unately there  was  an  .object  nearer  to  the  heart  of  the  adherents 
of  the  League  than  even  the  destruction  of  heresy,  and  that  was 
the  destruction  of  the  authority  of  Henry  of  Valois.  It  was 
^  highly  undesirable  to  defeat  the  Bearnais  with  the  king's  arms, 
and  indeed  to  do  anything  that  might  conduce  to  the  restoi-a- 
tion  of  his  majesty  to  public  esteem  and  confidence.  Above  all, 
Mayenne  must  not  furnish  the  slightest  help  toward  bringing 
about  that  dreaded  consummation,  the  return  of  a  peace  which, 
if  a  priceless  boon  to  the  wretched  people,  would  soimd  the  death- 


'  Letter  of  Cavriana,  March  3,  1586,  Negociations  avec  la  Toscane,  iv.  634- 
636. 

2  Lestoile,  under  date  of  May  18,  158G,  i.  203. 


1586. 


PROSCRIPTION  OF  THE  HUGUENOTS. 


395 


knell  of  the  ambitious  hopes  of  the  Guises,  and  might  be  little 
less  fatal  to  the  interests  of  their  employer,  Philip  the  Second, 
in  the  Netherlands. 

Thus  it  happened  that  the  Duke  of  Majenne  delayed  his  de- 
parture as  long  as  he  could,  and,  when  at  length  he  did  start, 
received  his  orders  from  his  brother,  not  from  the  king.  Set- 
ting off  about  the  month  of  Xovember,  he  executed  to  the  let- 
ter the  instructions  which  the  Duke  of  Guise,  in  a  letter  to  the 
Spanish  ambassador,  written  on  the  fifteenth  of  November,  rep- 
resents himself  as  having  issued  to  him.'  He  sat  down  before 
Castillon  and  one  or  two  other  places  of  minor  importance  in 
Guyenne.  He  "  invented  objections  based  upon  the  difficulty 
of  obtaining  pi-ovisions,  the  season  of  the  yeai-,  the  strongholds, 
the  roads — in  short,  on  all  the  impediments  experienced  by  those 
previously  sent  in  that  direction."  So  neatly  was  the  pro- 
gramme carried  out  that  all  he  had  to  show  for  his  year's  Avork 
was  the  capture  of  a  few  insignificant  towns.  The  only  exploit 
of  the  campaign  was  one  inuring  to  his  own  advantage :  he 
managed  to  carry  off  by  force  young  Mademoiselle  de  Caumont, 
daughter  of  the  Marechale  de  Saint  Andre,  a  girl  of  twelve 
years  of  age,  hitherto  brought  up  as  a  Protestant,  intending,  on 
account  of  her  great  wealth,  to  give  the  heiress  in  marriage  to 
his  own  son,  a  boy  of  ten.'  It  was  sorry  fruit  to  show  from  an 
expedition  whose  achievements  had  been  so  boastfully  set  forth 
in  advance  that  one  might  almost  have  been  pardoned  for  look- 
ing to  see  all  the  walls  of  the  strongholds  in  Guyenne  shivered 
to  pieces  or  crumbling  into  dust  at  its  approach.' 

It  was  natural  that  the  valorous  duke  should  close  his  dilatory 
warfare  by  publishing  to  the  world  a  glowing  account  of  the 
great  deeds  he  had  accomplished  ;  while  ascribing  the  failure  to 


'  See  above,  p.  363.  '  Lestoile  (under  October,  1586),  i.  209. 

^  "  Et  si  vous  voulez  vous  souvenir  ou  de  leurs  vanteries  ou  mesmes  de  vos 
imaginations  d'alors,  toutes  les  murailles  de  Guyenne  alloyent  en  esclas,  ou 
s'envoloyent  en  poudre."  Remoustiance  aux  Trois  Estats  de  France  sur  la 
guerre  de  la  Ligue  ;  reprinted  in  Memoires  de  la  Ligue,  i.  301.  On  the  mili- 
tary operations  of  the  year  1586,  "  full  of  exceeding  great  machinations,  but 
of  very  few  and  weak  executions  touching  the  war,"  see  Davila  (book  8),  292, 
etc.  ;  De  Thou,  vi.  (book  85),  667-676  ;  Agrippa  d'Aubigue,  iii.  24,  etc. 


890 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.        Cu.  VI. 


do  still  more  than  lie  had  done  partly  to  the  want  of  co-opera- 
tion of  Marshal  Matignon,  partly  to  the  neglect  of  the  king  to 
Huguenot  f  umisli  him  more  money.  Whereupon  a  Huguenot 
sarcasm.  commeutator  remarked  with  scathing  sarcasm  that  the 
intention  of  the  writer  of  Mayenne's  "Declaration"  was  plainly 
to  give  the  duke  by  the  pen  that  honor  which  he  had  not  been 
able  to  acquire  by  his  arms.  And  he  called  attention  to  the 
fact  that  the  "  small  means"  of  which  the  duke  complained  were 
the  entire  wealth  of  the  clergy  placed  at  his  disposal ;  the 
"  small  forces,"  an  army  of  fifteen  thousand  soldiers  at  his  com- 
mand ;  the  "  annoyances  and  inconveniences,"  a  few  cold  morn- 
ings. As  to  the  duke's  assm-ances  that  the  Huguenots  were 
now  so  scattered  and  astonished  that,  if  his  majesty  should  be 
pleased  to  furnish  the  means  promptly  to  make  a  second  charge, 
the}'  could  be  brought  to  such  a  pass  as  never  again  to  be  able 
to  rise  and  make  another  war,  the  Huguenot  writer  replies :  "  I 
see  not  whence  comes  this  astonishment.  I  see  that  they  were 
never  so  strong  in  Dauphiny.  They  give  battle  in  Provence. 
They  are  the  masters  in  Languedoc,  and  have  lost  nothing  in 
Guyenne.  I  fear  me  that  these  Leaguers  easily  find  fright, 
because  they  carry  fear  along  with  themselves.  ...  If  the 
Duke  of  Maj'enne  take  only  three  towns  a  year,  we  have  work 
enough  for  many  a  long  day.  If  Castillon  made  his  army  dis- 
band, I  believe  that  he  will  not  tarry  long  before  fifty  places  in 
Guyenne  which  are  stronger  than  Castillon."  ' 

Meanwhile  the  Huguenots  held  their  own  in  other  parts 
of  France.  The  Prince  of  Conde  had  returned  in  safety  to 
Condi  returns  ^rauce  after  his  perilous  adventure  of  Angers.  Queen 
to  France.  Elizabeth  had  not  onlj'  entertained  him  very  hand- 
somely in  England,  but  had  sent  him  back  to  La  Rochelle, 
escorted  by  a  goodly  number  of  noblemen  and  soldiers,  in  well 
equipped  vessels.  2sothing  could  exceed  the  joy  of  the  Hugue- 
nots, great  and  small,  at  his  coming ;  never  were  there  more 

'  "  Fidele  exposition  sur  la  declaration  du  due  de  Mayenne,  contenant  les  ex- 
ploits de  guerre  qu'il  a  fait  en  Guyeuue  ;"  reprinted  in  Memoires  de  la  Ligue,  i. 
493-515.  The  Huguenot  expositor,  who  scarcely  disguises  his  identity,  answers 
the  duke's  Declaration,  paragraph  by  paragraph.  See  also  Recueil  des  choses 
memorable.*,  622-G25  ;  De  Thou,  vi.  CTG,  077  ;  Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  iii.  17. 


1586. 


PROSCRIPTION  OF  THE  HUGUENOTS. 


397 


sincere  congratulations  than  those  that  accompanied  him  when, 
not  long  after,  he  contracted,  at  Taillebonrg,  his  ill-fated  marriage 
with  Catharine  Charlotte  de  la  Tremouille.'  One  inauspicious 
event,  however,  marred  the  rejoicing  over  this  event  and  over 

the  general  success  attending  the  Protestant  arms  in 
D'Andeiofs    the  AVcst.    By  a  strange  coincidence  the  Sieur  de 

Laval  and  three  of  his  brothers  fell  victims  to  the 
pitiless  ravages  of  war — one  of  Laval's  brothers  dj'ing  of  disease, 
the  others  of  the  wounds  they  had  received  ;  while  that  distin- 
guished nobleman  himself,  nnable  to  survive  the  loss  of  his 
kindred,  fell  a  prey  to  inconsolable  grief  and  died  after  a  brief 
illness  of  scarcely  a  week.  Within  the  compass  of  a  few  days 
almost  the  entire  family  of  the  brave  D'Andelot,  "  the  fearless 
knight,"  Admiral  Coligny's  youngest  brother,  had  been  cut  off.' 

But  while  Mayenne  and  other  generals  of  the  king  justly  or 
nnjustly  complained  that  they  were  insufficiently  supplied  with 

money  for  the  successful  prosecution  of  their  i)lans, 

Henry  of  .  ,  .  }  .  ^  , 

vaiois'3       his  ma]esty  himself  was  in  sore  straits  to  meet  the 

diversions.  ,  ,  .  -.^  , 

demands  made  upon  Ins  purse.  JNot  that  the  war 
alone  claimed  his  attention.  His  puerile  fondness  for  collect- 
ing dogs  of  choice  breeds  was  unabated.  The  sums  of  money 
expended  xipon  these  animals,  and  upon  birds  of  prey,  parrots, 
monkeys,  and  the  like,  almost  baffle  computation.  Year  after 
year  more  than  one  hundred  thousand  crowns  were  required  for 
the  purchase  of  little  dogs  of  the  Lyons  breed,  and  the  main- 
tenance of  a  large  force  of  men  and  women  whose  sole  occupa- 
tion was  to  take  care  of  them.  To  add  to  the  expense,  Henry 
would  from  time  to  time  become  tired  of  his  pets  and  give  them 

'  See  the  minute  account  of  the  events  in  the  West  given  in  the  "  Advertisse- 
ment  au  lecteur  par  lequel  est  sommairement  discouru  ce  qui  se  passa  en  divers 
lieux  de  France,  apres  la  rupture  de  I'armee  de  Monsieur  le  Prince  de  Conde 
de  la  Loire,  a  la  fin  de  I'an  mil  cinq  cens  octantecinq  et  en  I'an  suyvant  1586," 
Memoires  de  la  Ligue,  ii.  173-199  ;  and  the  brief  statements  in  Recueil  des 
choses  memorables,  632,  636,  etc.  Conde  lauded  at  La  Rochelle,  Friday, 
January  3,  and  was  married,  Sunday,  March  IG. 

-See  the  "  Ad  vertissement"  above  referred  to,  Memoires  de  la  Ligue,  ii. 
191,  192  ;  De  Thou,  vi.  664,  66.>;  Recueil  des  choses  memorables,  638,  etc. 
These  events  occurred  in  April,  1586.  The  four  brothers  were  known  re- 
spectively by  their  seigniorial  designations  of  Laval,  Rieux,  Tanlay,  and  Sailly. 


398 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.        Cu.  VI. 


all  away,  then,  as  capriciously,  conceive  the  desire  for  them 
again,  and  send  out  his  agents  in  every  direction  to  get  together 
a  similar  collection,  whatever  the  price  demanded  by  the  owners 
might  be.'  Much  of  the  people's  hard-earned  treasure  was  lav- 
ished upon  the  purchase  of  costly  manuscripts,  which  he  accu- 
mulated not  because  of  the  beauty  of  the  handwriting,  much 
less  that  he  might  master  their  contents,  but  simply  for  the 
sake  of  the  miniature  illustrations,  often  the  work  of  skilful  ar- 
tists, with  which  they  were  embellished.  Nor  did  this  childish 
pi'ince  hesitate  for  a  moment  to  mutilate  the  rarest  relics  of  a 
past  age,  in  order  to  have  material  wherewith  to  gratify  a  pass- 
ing whim,  and  decorate  the  walls  of  his  chapels  and  oratories.^ 
Tlie  Edict  of  Nemours  and  the  subsequent  declarative  ordi- 
nances had  brought  little  or  nothing  into  the  public  treasury. 
Pretended  creditors,  for  the  most  part,  contrived  by  their 
claims  to  forestall  any  possible  funds  to  be  derived  from  the 
confiscation  of  the  property  of  Huguenots.'  It  may  be  doubted 
whether  a  new  and  sharper  prescription,  contained  in  royal 
letters  patent  of  the  twenty-sixth  of  April,  15S6,  produced  much 
more  tangible  results.  Money,  however,  was  necessary  and 
must  be  had,  if  not  with  his  subjects' consent,  the  king  thought, 
then  without  it,  and  in  defiance  of  their  remonstrances.  Espe- 
cially was  this  the  case  when  his  favorite,  the  Duke  of  Eper- 
non,  lately  appointed  governor  of  Provence,  wished  to  raise  an 
army  in  his  new  command.  It  was  useless  to  ask  the  Parlia- 
ment of  Paris  to  sanction  fresh  taxes.  That  body  had  of  late 
persistently  refused  to  register  the  monarch's  iniquitous  im- 
posts. Accordingly,  Henry  of  Yalois,  provoked  beyond  endur- 
ance, resolved  to  take  the  matter  into  his  own  hands, 
cioustinan-  and,  going  in  person  to  the  Palais  de  Justice,  on  the 
sixteenth  of  June,  delivered  to  the  astonished  coun- 
sellors not  less  than  twenty-seven  fresh  edicts,  all  relating  to  the 
levy  of  extraordinary  taxes,  which  he  compelled  them  to  enter 
upon  their  records  without  any  deliberation  as  to  the  contents. 


•  De  Thou,  vi.  G81,  682.  '  De  Thou,  vi.  (book  85)  682. 

'  See  the  preamble  of  the  Letters  patent  of  April  26,  158G,  in  Memoires  de 
la  Ligue,  i.  343,  etc. 


1586. 


INTERCESSION  OF  FOREIGN  PROTESTANTS. 


399 


The  ill-advised  act  of  arbitrary  power  bore  speedy  fruit  in  the 
undisguised  dissatisfaction  and  nnirmurs  of  all  classes  of  the 
population." 

The  Protestants  of  the  surrounding  countries  had  not  re- 
mained unsympathetic  witnesses  of  the  new  struggle  forced 
upon  the  Huguenots  of  France  by  the  enemies  of  their  com- 
mon faith.  The  question  with  them  was  whether  to  resort 
first  to  diplomacy  or  to  arms ;  and  on  all  hands  the  former 
course  was  deemed  most  proper. 

The  earliest  envoys  to  arrive  were  those  of  the  Protestant  can- 
tons of  Switzerland.  xVs  soon  as  on  the  seventh  of  February, 
Intercession  of  i^SG,  at  the  soHcitatiou  of  Berne,  they  had  resolved  to 
cantons'of*^"'  seud  an  embassy  to  France,  with  the  view  of  helping 
Switzerland,  negotiate  a  peace  between  the  crown  and  the  Hu- 
guenots. This  they  determined  to  do  without  waiting  to  see 
whether  the  German  princes  would  join  them,  well  assured,  as 
they  said,  that  both  the  king  and  the  nobles  of  France  would 
look  with  a  more  friendly  eye  upon  their  intercessions  than 
upon  those  of  the  Germans,  because  of  the  close  alliance  between 
Switzerland  and  the  French  crown.  They  were  persuaded  that, 
should  their  exertions  prove  fruitless,  they  would,  at  least,  have 
adopted  the  most  honorable  course  in  interesting  themselves  in 
behalf  of  the  kingdom  of  France,  and  have  given  some  con- 
solation and  encouragement  to  the  Protestants  of  that  country.^ 
The  ambassadors  were  instructed  to  assume  a  position  of  neu- 
trality, and  not  to  act  as  though  their  kind  offices  had  been 
asked  by  the  King  of  Xavarre.  While  urging  a  general  peace 
rather  than  a  peace  for  the  Church  alone,  they  were  to  remind 
the  king  that  there  could  be  no  thorough  tranquillity  without 
provision  for  religious  liberty.  To  force  human  consciences, 
said  the  Swiss,  is  to  aim  at  making  hypocrites  of  them,  or  to 
drive  a  gi-eat  number  to  despair  or  atheism.  The  king  will 
never  succeed  in  having  but  one  religion  in  his  realm  ;  he  will 
not  be  able  to  prevent  his  subjects  from  following  the  path 


•  De  Thou,  vi.  G79,  680. 

-  J.  C.  Mcerikofer,  Histoire  des  refugies  de  la  reforme  en  Suisse,  115.  I 
have  made  use  of  the  Frencli  translation  by  G.  Roux  of  t}ie  German  work. 


400 


THE  HUGUE2fOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  XATARRE.       Ch.  VI, 


that  suits  tliem.  This  has  been  the  experience  of  the  S\viss 
confederates.  The  Reformed  cantons  are  therefore  of  the 
opinion  that  they  will  find  it  impossible  to  prevent  a  good 
part  of  their  popuhition  from  lending  help  to  the  Protestants 
of  France,  so  much  the  more  as  it  is  generally  believed  among 
them  that  these  troubles  and  seditions  tend  to  the  extermination 
of  the  first  princes  of  the  royal  house  of  France.' 

So  kindly  a  remonstrance,  accompanied,  it  is  said,  by  the 
exhibition  of  a  letter  of  Francis  the  First,  in  -which  that  prince, 
the  reigning  monarch's  own  grandfather,  had  urged  the  Swiss, 
at  that  time  in  arms,  Roman  Catholic  warring  against  Protes- 
tant, to  come  to  terms  of  amity,  was  well  calculated,  if  it  did  not 
secure  its  object,  at  least  to  avoid  irritating  Henry  of  Yalois. 
The  Swiss  ambassadors  were  honorably  dismissed  after  a  very 
gracious  reception." 

It  was  quite  otherwise  with  the  German  deputation. 

In  response  to  the  urgent  solicitations  of  the  King  of  Xavarre, 
through  Segur  and  others,  and  in  deference  to  the  appeals  of 
the  aged  Theodore  Beza,  a  large  and  influential  body 
the  German  of  German  rulcrs  had  agreed  to  send  delegates  to 
pnnce=.  francc  to  plead  for  the  restoration  of  the  rights  of 
conscience  and  worship  to  the  Huguenots,  and,  should  those 
rights  be  denied,  had  consented  to  a  new  resort  to  arms  in  their 
behalf.  True,  every  scheme  hitherto  proposed  with  the  inten- 
tion of  a  doctrinal  reconciliation  between  the  adherents  of  the 
views  of  Calvin  and  the  supporters  of  the  Lutheran  tenets  had 
signally  failed.  The  most  recent  instance  was  seen  in  the  issue 
of  the  conference  held  in  March,  1586,  in  the  city  of  Mont- 
bcliard,  in  consequence  of  the  exertions  of  Count  Frederick  of 
TTiirtemberg,  himself  not  a  little  disposed  to  favor  the  doctrines 
of  the  Swiss  reformers.     Beza  came  in  person,  and 

Conference  of,,  ,  .,  ,  •      i     j_      ^  ^ 

MontbeUard,  labored  patiently  and  persevermgly  to  nnd  common 
March,  6.  ^^.^j^j^^  npon  wliich  to  stand  with  the  German  theo- 
logians. But  he  was  again  met  by  Andrese,  tried  champion  of 
Lutheran  orthodoxy,  in  no  conciliatory  mood.  The  long  and 
earnest  discussion  has  been  preserved  in  the  ex ^arte  statements 


Moerikofer,  ubi  supra. 


'  De  Thou,  vi.  680. 


1586. 


INTERCESSION  OF  FOREIGN  PROTESTANTS. 


4U1 


of  both  of  the  able  theologians ;  for  the  Germans,  in  apparent 
violation  of  the  common  understanding,  gave  to  the  world  their 
version  of  the  proceedings,  and  claimed  that  Audrece  had  won 
a  notable  victory  over  Beza — a  pretension  which  the  latter  could 
disprove  only  by  himself  resorting  to  the  printing  press.  But 
what  concerns  us  here  is  not  the  comparative  merit  of  Beza  and 
Andreae  as  dialecticians,  nor  the  particular  methods  by  which 
they  attempted  to  vindicate  the  belief  of  their  respective 
churches  on  the  person  of  Christ  or  the  elect  for  whom  our 
Saviour  died.  These  things  have  been  well  related  elsewhere.' 
All  that  we  need  record  is  the  fact  that,  at  the  conclusion  of  the 
debates,  Lutherans  and  Calvinists  were  farther  away  from  each 
other  than  at  the  beginning.  It  was  indeed  evident  to  every- 
body that  both  were  practically  at  one  in  their  views  upon 
essential  points,  as  opposed  to  the  Roman  Catholics,  and  Beza 
was  anxious  to  do  away  with  all  bitterness  and  party  names. 
But  when  the  Genevese  reformer  was  about  to  leave,  and,  in 
token  of  cordial  affection  and  trust,  offered  his  hand  to  Andrea?, 
the  latter  repelled  the  advance.  He  could,  he  said,  as  little  see 
how  Beza  could  regard  him  and  the  AVlirtemberg  theologians, 
to  whom  he  had  ascribed  all  sorts  of  errors,  as  brethren,  as  he 
himself  could  I'ecognize  fraternal  communion  with  Beza,  who 
had  given  evidence  that  he  held  the  imaginations  of  men  above 
the  Word  of  God.  While,  however,  he  could  not  greet  him  as 
a  brother,  Andrese  kindly  offered  to  give  Beza  his  hand  as  a 
mark  of  his  love  toward  him  as  a  fellow-man — a  condescen- 
sion which,  not  unnaturally,  the  Genevese  reformer  at  once  de- 
clined." 

Despite  the  failure  of  this  new  attempt  to  bring  the  two 
branches  of  the  Protestant  Church  into  harmony  of  profession, 
The  embassy  Germans  seemed  disposed  to  make  common  cause 
reaches  Paris.  the  French  Ilugueuots  against  the  aijgressive 

policy  of  the  Roman  Catholics  and  the  League.  The  embassy 
now  sent  to  Henry  of  Yalois  appeared  in  the  name  of  the  three 


'  See  F.  C.  Schlosser,  Leben  des  Theodor  de  Beza,  253-207,  and  especially 
H.  Heppe,  Theodor  Beza,  2GT-28T. 

^  Heppe,  287.    Compare  De  Thou,  vi.  G87. 
VoT„  I.— 26 


402 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE. 


Ch.  VL 


Protestant  Electors  of  the  Palatinate,  Saxony,  and  Branden- 
burg, of  Marquis  Joachim  Frederick  of  Brandenburg,  Julius 
Duke  of  Brunswick  and  Llineburg,  of  the  three  brothers,  Will- 
iam, Lewis,  and  George,  of  Hesse,  of  Prince  Joachim  Ernest, 
and  of  the  four  imperial  cities  of  Strasbourg,  Uln),  Nuremburg, 
and  Frankfort.  To  give  more  influence  and  effect  to  the  depu- 
tation, Frederick  of  Wiirtemberg,  Count  of  Montbeliard,  and 
Wolfgang  Count  of  Isenburg,  had  been  placed  at  its  head. 
But  the  King  of  France  was  in  no  mood  to  listen  to  them,  and 
doubtless  thought  it  a  shrewxl  trick,  the  moment  he  heard  that 
they  were  well  under  way,  to  slip  off  to  Lyons,  leaving  word  for 
the  ambassadors  to  wait  in  Paris  until  his  return.  If  the  worst 
should  come  to  pass,  the  delay  would  secure  him  one  years  im- 
munity from  Protestant  auxiliaries  from  beyond  the  Rhine. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  Germans,  though  chafing  under  their 
enforced  inactivity,  had  no  resource  but  to  tarry  as  patiently  as 
they  might  in  the  French  capital,  whose  marvels,  architectural 
and  of  other  kinds,  were  little  to  their  taste.  The  two  counts,  in- 
deed, thinking  it  beneath  their  dignity  to  be  so  put  off,  returned 
to  their  homes  without  seeing  the  king.  But  the  remaining 
envoys,  when  at  length  Henry  of  Yalois  was  pleased  to  direct 
his  steps  northward  once  more,  discharged  their  duty  with  all 
the  dignity  which  even  the  ostentatious  Count  of  Montbeliard 
could  have  assumed.    Casimir's  deputy  was  their  spokesman. 

They  assured  the  king  of  the  very  great  affection  en- 

Speechof  -iri-i        iz-i  .  .  , 

Duke  casi-  tertamcd  tor  him  by  the  German  princes  in  whose 
mi  s  envoy.  ^^^-^^^  they  appeared,  and  of  the  regret  with  which 
the  princes  had  watched  the  progress  of  the  new  war.  "  As 
the  king's  faithful  friends  and  good  neighbors,"  said  they,  "  our 
masters  have  been  moved  with  Christian  compassion  toward 
your  majesty ;  especially  in  view  of  the  fact  that  those  who 
have  set  on  foot  this  injurious  scheme  have  so  far  forgotten 
themselves  as  to  plot  against  the  crown  and  the  administration 
of  government,  pressing  you,  nay,  even  constraining  you  by 
force  of  arms  to  make  war  against  and  persecute  with  violence 
your  obedient  subjects,  and  even  those  so  nearly  bound  to  you  by 
the  ties  of  relationship,  and  breaking  the  Edict  of  Pacification 
so  solemnly  made  and  resting  upon  the  faith  and  word  of  your 


1586.  INTERCESSION  OF  FOREIGN  PROTESTANTS.  403 


majesty,  a  singular  ornament  and  the  most  precious  jewel  of  all 
princes  and  potentates  in  the  estimation  of  all  peoples."  Much 
that  followed  was  of  the  same  frank  character.  The  ambassa- 
dors contrasted  the  king's  more  recent  attempts  to  throw  tlie 
blame  upon  the  Huguenots  with  his  declarations  of  a  few  brief 
days  before,  in  which  he  had  explicitly  acknowledged  them  as 
faithful  and  obedient  subjects.  They  professed  themselves  un- 
able to  see  what  advantage  could  accrue  to  Henry  from  lending 
an  ear  to  those  who  would  turn  him  aside  from  his  royal  prom- 
ises, and  from  his  faith  and  word  pledged  in  the  edict  which 
the  king  himself  had  been  wont  to  style  liis  own  peace.  They 
warned  him  of  the  ruin  of  himself,  and  of  his  kingdom,  certain 
to  arise  from  a  breach  of  faith  instigated  by  the  pope,  which 
would  of  necessity  inure  merely  to  the  benefit  of  the  pope  and 
of  the  authors  of  these  troubles.  Xot  only  would  the  king's  con- 
science be  laden  with  a  heavy  responsibility  in  God's  sight,  but 
his  reign  would  be  defiled  with  blood  ;  while,  in  place  of  confi- 
dence, distrust  would  be  engendered  between  the  kings  of  France 
and  the  princes,  electors,  and  other  states  of  the  Holy  Empire.' 

This  was  plain  speech,  but  Henry  of  Valois,  for  the  mo- 
ment, concealed  his  annoyance  under  an  exterior  of  patient  and 
courteous  attention.  In  reply  he  confined  himself  to  a  few 
general  declarations  of  his  constant  solicitude  to  prove  himself 
a  good  king  toward  his  subjects,  and  of  his  earnest  affection, 
as  very  Christian  prince,  for  the  preservation  of  the  Catholic 
religion.  He  claimed  for  himself  the  sole  right  to  modify  the 
laws  and  ordinances  of  his  realm  according  to  the  exio-encies 
of  the  times,  leaving  to  all  other  sovereign  princes  of  Christen- 
dom the  care  of  governing  their  subjects  as  they  might  judge 
reasonable.  He  was  competent  of  himself,  he  said,  to  decide 
what  would  be  best  for  the  interests  of  the  nation  which  the 
Almighty  had  committed  to  his  charge  by  making  him  king  of 
the  first  realm  of  Christendom.'' 


'  "Harangue  des  Ambassadeurs  des  Princes  Protestans  d'Allemagne  faicte 
axi  Roy."    Memoires  de  la  Ligue,  i.  353-358. 

^  "  Response  du  Roy  aux  Ambassadeurs."  Memoires  de  la  Ligue,  i.  358,  359. 
At  the  end:  "Faict  a  Sainct  Germain  en  Laye,  I'ouziesme  jour  d'Octobre, 
1586." 


40i  THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OP  NAVARRE.        Ch.  VI. 


Thus  far  Henry  had  maintained  his  apparent  equanimity. 
But  in  the  evening,  when,  the  interview  being  over,  he  was  left 
alone,  the  words  of  the  Germans  began  to  rankle  in  his  breast. 
He  then  remembered  with  indignation  that  again  and  again  he 
had  been  accused,  by  implication,  if  not  in  so  many  words,  of 
faithlessness,  falsehood,  and  perjury.  At  the  thought  of  the 
insult  his  anger  knew  no  bounds.  He  was  dis2;raced  forever  in 
the  eyes  of  the  world,  should  he  let  the  accusation  pass  unchal- 
lenged. In  his  inconsiderate  fury,  he  adopted,  as  usual  with 
him,  of  all  courses  the  most  impolitic.  Snatching  a  scrap  of 
paper  from  the  table,  he  wrote  a  few  lines  upon  it ;  then  told  an 
officer  of  the  bedchamber  to  take  it  to  the  room  where  the  Ger- 
man ambassadors  were  gathered  together.  The  words  were  to 
this  effect :  "  Whoever  has  said  that,  in  revoking  his  Edict  of 
Pacification,  the  king  has  violated  his  faith  or  stained 

The  kin<»'s 

rough  an-  liis  houor,  lias  lied."  It  was  well  on  in  the  night 
when  the  astonished  envoys  saw  the  royal  officer  en- 
ter with  his  supplementary  answer.  As  soon  as  they  had  some- 
what recovered  from  the  first  effects  of  the  undiplomatic  an- 
nouncement, they  requested  the  messenger  to  furnish  a  copy  of 
it.  The  Frenchman,  however,  refused.  He  had  been  bidden 
to  read  the  paper  and  then  destroy  it.  He  told  the  Germans 
that  this  was  to  be  taken  as  their  dismissal ;  his  majesty  would 
have  nothing  further  to  do  with  them.' 

The  envoys  of  the  King  of  Denmark  and  of  the  Queen  of 
England  were  scarcely  better  treated  by  the  French  monarch, 
when  they  came  to  remonstrate   against  the  war 

Action  of 

Denmark  and  Waged  with  the  Hugucnots.    "  As  the  Queen  of  Eng- 
land will  have  but  one  religion  in  her  dominions,  so 
I  will  have  only  one  religion  in  my  kingdom,"  was  the  surly 
answer  of  the  angry  prince.'' 

Henry  of  Valois  could  have  taken  no  step  better  calculated 
to  provoke  the  strong  Protestant  princes  beyond  the  Rhine  to 
increase  the  number  of  the  troops  sent  to  the  help  of  the  King 


'  DeThou,  vi.  690;  Davila  (book  8),  299,  300;  Journal  d'un  cure  ligueur 
(Jehan  de  la  Fosse),  200. 

2  Lestoile,  under  date  of  April  24,  1586,  i.  202  ;  Jelian  de  la  Fosse,  200. 


1580. 


INTERCESSION  OF  FOREIGN  PROTESTANTS. 


405 


of  Navarre,  none  more  certain  to  hasten  the  departure  of  the 
auxiliary  army.  At  the  same  time,  if  he  had  hoped  by  his  con- 
duct to  win  the  Guises  back  to  their  allegiance,  he  failed  sig- 
nally. Never  were  they  more  busy  with  plots  for  the  purpose 
of  thwarting  him  in  every  way,  and  of  diminishino; 

The  Guises  .°  i, 

iieterrained  his  authority.  A  coiiterencc  was  held  by  the  duke 
liown  their  aiid  liis  chief  adherents  during  the  course  of  the  very 
month  in  which  Henry  returned  his  rough  answer 
to  the  German  electors.  The  place  was  the  ancient  abbey  of 
Ourcamp  near  Noyon,  Calvin's  birthplace.  One  of  the  com- 
confeience  of  P^'^.ints  brouglit  forward  was  that  the  king  secretly 
Ourcamp.  favored  the  Protestants.  One  of  the  points  settled 
was  to  call  upon  his  majesty  to  observe  the  Edict  of  Union  in 
every  particular;  and,  in  case  he  should  make  any  agreement 
with  the  Huguenots,  to  oppose  him  as  all  true  Christians  ought 
to  do.  Moreover,  the  conspirators  agreed  upon  the  seizure  of 
Sedan  and  Jametz,  important  places  belonging  to  the  Duke 
of  Bouillon.'  After  the  close  of  the  conference,  whose  con- 
clusions were  duly  reported  by  Guise  to  the  ambassador  of  the 
king  whose  true  liege  man  he  was,  the  duke  pursued  unremit- 
tingly the  policy  marked  out  for  him.  He  laid  his  plans  so  as 
always  to  have  as  many  pretexts  as  possible  for  remaining 
in  arms."  When  he  must  choose  between  loyal  obedience  to 
Henry  of  Yalois  and  fidelity  to  Philip  the  Second,  he  unhesi- 
tatingly chose  the  latter.  "  Six  days  ago,"  he  sent  word  to 
Bernardino  de  Mendoza  in  Paris,  "  the  king  wrote  to  me  that 
he  was  informed  of  certain  preparations  going  on  in  Luxem- 
burg against  Jametz,  and  ordered  and  very  expressly  com- 
manded me  to  resist  them  in  every  way,  even  in  person.  I 
openly  replied  to  him  that  I  was  a  Catholic,  that  he  could  not 
disapprove  of  an  enterprise  of  this  kind  unless  by  reason  of  a 
little  pardonable  ambition,  and  that  if  my  charge  obliged  me  to 
obey  such  commands,  I  had  much  rather  resign  it  than,  by  op- 

'  De  Croze,  i.  321. 

'  "Ay  clioisi  de  ceste  faqon  de  traicter  afin  que  me  soit  occasion  et  moyen  de 
demeurer  arme  le  plus  longtemps  que  faire  se  pourra,  et  que  duraut  le  sejour 
de  men  frere  a  la  court,  il  puysse  estre  asseuro  de  ces  forces,"  etc.  Mu- 
cius  to  Mendoza,  December  30,  158G,  ibid.,  i.  407. 


406 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE. 


Ch.  VI. 


posing  the  destruction  of  the  heretics,  offend  Catholics ;  that  I 
was  unwilling  in  any  wise  to  stand  in  their  way,  and  had  rather 
be  dead  than  draw  my  sword  for  so  detestable  a  cause.  This 
reply  I  am  sure  that  he  will  consider  a  very  bad  one ;  as  all  my 
actions  are  odious  to  him.  But  if  only  the  truth  be  recog- 
nized by  good  and  honorable  men,  to  whom  I  am  willing  to 
give  an  account,  I  shall  endure  his  displeasure  gladly  and  pa- 
tiently." ' 

Troublesome  commands  from  Henry,  which  had  to  be  dis- 
regarded, were  not  the  only  causes  of  vexation  to  the  Duke  of 
The  League  Gruiso.  The  quccu  motlicr's  old  fondness  for  negotiat- 
apprehensive.  jjjg  -with  the  Hugucnots  gave  him  infinite  uneasiness. 
It  would  never  do  to  let  poor  Fi  ance  regain  the  blessing  of 
peace.  AVhat,  then,  would  become  of  the  fine  plan  that  was  to 
secure  the  crown  of  England  to  Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  with 
Philip  the  Second  as  her  adopted  heir,  in  case  of  James's  ob- 
stinate refusal  to  become  a  Roman  Catholic?  Of  what  use  the 
proposed  invasion  of  Britain  by  the  Duke  of  Parma,  to  be  put 
into  instant  execution  the  moment  the  welcome  news  of  the 
assassination  of  Queen  Elizabeth  should  be  received,  in  case 
that,  the  dissensions  of  France  being  healed,  Henry  of  Navarre, 
or  even  Henry  of  Yalois,  or  possibly  both  these  princes,  sup- 
ported by  all  loyal  Frenchmen,  were  to  interfere  with  the  ac- 
complishment of  the  first  decisive  move  of  the  Catholic  king 
in  the  direction  of  a  world-monarchy  V  "I  am  constantly  in 
alarm  because  of  the  designs  of  the  queen  mother,"  said  Guise 
to  Mendoza.  "  Within  a  few  days  she  is  to  have  an  interview 
with  the  King  of  Xavarre.  I  fear  lest  by  what  is  there  con- 
cluded she  means  to  disturb  the  peace  of  the  Catholics  of  these 
two  crowns,  which  consists  in  union."    Against  such  a  con- 


'  Mucius  to  Mendoza,  February  6, 1587,  De  Croze,  i.  417. 

^  De  Croze,  i.  313.  Besides  the  Guises,  the  papal  nuucio  protested  against 
the  contemplated  negotiations  with  Navarre,  and  the  populace  of  Paris  openly 
murmured  at  what  was  represented  as  a  betrayal  of  the  cause  of  religion. 
Davila,  bk.  8,  397.  According  to  Davila  and  others,  Catharine  seriously  con- 
templated tempting  Henry  of  Navarre  by  the  prospect  of  a  divorce  to  be  ob- 
tained for  him  from  her  daughter  Margaret  of  Valois  and  a  marriage  to  Chris- 
tina, daughter  of  Margaret's  sister,  the  Duchess  of  Lorraine. 


1586. 


CONFERENCE  OP  SAINT  BR16. 


407 


tingencj  he  thought  it  necessary  not  only  to  liasten  to  secure 
his  control  of  Eastern  France  by  the  seizure  of  Lyons,  but  to 
urge  the  Spaniard  to  be  prepared  for  every  emergency  and  to 
make  ready  the  English  expedition  before  Catharine  could  by 
any  possibility  conclude  a  peace.' 

Isor  did  the  queen  mother,  on  her  part,  find  it  altogether  an 
easy  matter  to  bring  the  Bearnais  to  a  conference  with  her.  It 
is  almost  needless  to  say  that  the  Huguenots  had  seen  enough 
of  Medicean  diplomacy  to  repose  little  confidence  in  its  good 
faith.  It  would  have  been  no  new  or  strange  thing  had  the 
lioman  Catholics  taken  advantage  of  a  conference  to  attempt 
some  surprise.  At  one  time  a  hostile  fleet  hung  out  at  sea  op- 
posite La  Rochelle,  and  Henry  would  have  nothing  to  do  with 
Catharine  while  the  Huguenot  capital  was  threatened.  At  an- 
other, some  Huguenot  troops  were  attacked  not  without  suspi- 
cion of  treachery.  The  King  of  Navarre  was  fully  determined 
to  do  nothing  without  consulting  his  associates,  and  to  let  every 
advance  come  from  the  other  side." 

It  was  the  thirteenth  of  December  when  Catharine  de'  Medici, 
having  overcome  a  host  of  difficulties,  at  last  succeeded  in  ef- 
conference  fectiug  a  meeting  with  her  distrustful  son-in-law  at 
an'nrand^^"'"  castlc  of  Saiut  Bris,  not  far  from  Cognac.''  Henry, 
sa^n^t  bX*  ^^^^  heen  careful  to  come  with  a  powerful  retinue 

December.  Huguenot  noblcs,  as  a  precaution  against  a  treach- 
erous surprise,  was  received  by  the  queen  mother  in  the  presence 
of  her  ladies  of  honor,  at  the  first  interview,  with  even  more 


'  "J'escrisa  mon  frere,  que  devant  qu'elle  puisse  prendre  conclusion,  il 
s'en  revienne  en  diligence  en  son  gouvernement,  qui  depuis  Auxonne  est  tout 
nostre,  et  qu'il  s'asseiire  de  Lyon,  afin  que  nous  soyons  prests  a  empescher 
reflect  de  telles  menees."  Mucins  to  Mendoza,  September  22,  1586,  De  Croze, 
i.  319,  320. 

'See  the  contemporary  account  "Lettre  d'un  gentilhomme  frangois  a  un 
sien  ami  estant  a  Rome,  contenant  le  discours  du  voyage  de  la  Royne  Mere  du 
Roy,"  in  Memoires  de  la  Ligue,  ii.  85-98. 

'  Saint  Bris,  Saint  Brix,  or  Saint  Brice  as  the  name  appears  upon  some  maps, 
is  on  the  northern  bank  of  the  Charente,  between  Cognac  and  Jarnac,  in  the 
present  Department  of  Charente.  Catharine  de'  Medici  had  come  to  Cognac 
attended  by  Nevers,  Retz,  Lansac.  and  other  noblemen.  The  King  of  Navarre 
Lad  advanced  to  Jarnac,  with  Tureune,  La  Force,  and  other  Huguenot  chiefs 


40S  THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HEXRY  OF  NAVARRE.       Ch.  VL 


than  her  customaiy  demonstrations  of  good  will.  After  a  lavish 
display  of  embraces  and  caresses,  however,  the  serious  business 
in  hand  was  promptly  entered  upon,  and  a  lively  conversation 
arose. 

"  Well,  my  son,"  said  Catharine,  "  shall  we  accomplish  any- 
thing of  advantage?" 

'•  It  will  not  be  my  fault  if  we  do  not,"  answered  Henry. 
"  That  is  what  I  wish." 

"  You  must  tell  me,  then,  what  you  desire  for  that  end." 

"  My  desires,  madam,  are  only  the  desires  of  your  majesty." 

"  Let  us  drop  this  ceremony ;  tell  me  what  you  demand." 

"Madam,  I  demand  nothing.  I  am  come  only  to  receive 
your  commands." 

"  So !    So !    Make  some  opening." 

"  Madam,  there  is  no  opening  here  for  me."  ' 

"  What !  Do  you  wish  to  be  the  cause  of  the  ruin  of  this 
kingdom  ?  Do  you  not  consider  that,  after  the  king,  there  is 
no  other  person  more  interested  in  its  preservation  than  you  ? " 

"  Madam,  neither  you  nor  the  king  has  believed  this  to  be 
the  case  ;  for  eight  armies  have  been  set  on  foot  with  the  pur- 
pose of  ruining  me." 

"  What  armies,  my  son  ?  You  deceive  yourself.  Do  you 
think  that,  had  the  king  wished  to  ruin  you,  he  would  not 
have  done  it  ?  The  ability  has  not  been  wanting,  but  he  has 
never  had  the  will." 


and  a  body  of  eight  hundred  horse  and  nearly  two  thousand  foot — an  escort 
of  such  strength  that  the  queen  mother  is  said  to  have  been  somewhat  ap- 
prehensive lest  her  son-in-law  intended  to  carry  her  off  a  prisoner  to  La 
Rochelle.  When  the  interview  took  place  at  Saint  Bris,  about  midway  be- 
tween the  two  towns,  a  company  of  fifty  Roman  Catholics  and  a  company  of 
the  same  number  of  Huguenots  stood  on  guard  at  the  gates,  while  squadrons 
of  horse  of  both  parties  kept  the  field.  Davila,  bk.  8,  p.  305.  Of  the  nobles 
in  Henry's  suite,  one  or  more  uniformly  remained  outside  for  fear  of  some  plot. 
We  are  not  informed  as  to  which  of  Catharine's  ladies  attended  her ;  but  we 
may  conclude  that  they  were  neither  better  nor  worse  than  those  who  graced 
the  Conference  of  Nerac  with  their  presence. 

'  "  'Madame,  il  n'y  a  point  icy  d'ouverture  pour  moy.'  Cet  equivoque  fut 
incontinent  remarque  par  les  dames,  pour  un  traict  de  la  galanterie  de  ce 
prince,  qui  en  tout  temps  et  en  toute  sorte  de  discours,  faisoit  voir  la  vivacite 
de  ses  reparties." 


158G. 


CONFERENCE  OF  SAINT  BRIS. 


409 


"  Pardon  me,  madam,  \nj  ruin  does  not  depend  upon  men. 
It  is  neither  in  the  king's  power  nor  in  yours." 

"  Are  you  ignorant  of  the  king's  power,  and  of  what  he  can 
do  ? " 

"  Madam,  I  know  well  what  he  can  do,  and  still  better  what 
he  could  not  do." 

"  "What !   Will  you  not  obey  your  king  ?  " 

"  I  have  always  had  the  will  to  obey  him,  I  have  desired  to 
testify  to  him  its  effects,  and  I  have  often  begged  him  to  honor 
me  with  his  commands,  in  order  that  I  might,  under  his  author- 
ity, oppose  the  adherents  of  the  League,  who  had  risen  up  in 
his  kingdom,  in  spite  of  his  edicts,  to  disturb  his  rest  and  the 
public  tranquillity." 

At  this  Catharine  ilew  into  a  passion. 

"Do  not  deceive  yourself,  my  son.  They  are  not  in  a 
league  against  the  kingdom.  They  are  Frenchmen.  They  are 
all  the  best  Catholics  of  France,  who  are  apprehensive  of  the 
domination  of  the  Huguenots  ;  and  to  tell  you  the  whole  matter 
in  one  word,  the  king  knows  their  intentions  and  approves  all 
they  have  done.  But  let  us  drop  that  subject.  Talk  only  about 
your  own  concerns.  Ask  all  you  want ;  the  king  will  grant 
it." 

"  Madam,  I  ask  you  for  nothing  ;  but  if  you  ask  anything  of 
me,  I  will  submit  it  to  my  friends  and  to  those  to  whom  I  have 
promised  to  do  nothing  and  treat  of  nothing  w'ithout  their  par- 
ticipation." 

'•  Very  well,  my  son,  since  you  will  have  it  so,  I  shall  say 
nothing  farther,  but  that  the  king  loves  and  honors  you,  and 
wishes  to  see  you  by  his  side,  and  to  greet  you  as  his  good 
brother." 

"  Madam,  I  thank  him  very  humbly,  and  I  assure  you  that 
never  shall  I  be  wanting  in  the  duty  I  owe  him." 

"  But  what !    Will  you  not  say  anything  more  than  that  ?  " 
"  Is  that  not  saying  much  ? " 

"  Do  you,  then,  wish  to  continue  to  be  the  cause  of  the  wretch- 
edness and,  in  the  end,  the  destruction  of  this  realm  ?  " 

"  Madam,  I  am  sure  that  it  will  never  be  so  completely  ruined 
but  that  there  will  always  remain  some  little  corner  for  me." 


410 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.      Ch.  VI. 


"  But  will  jou  not  obey  the  king  ?  Are  you  not  afraid  that 
his  anger  may  be  enkindled  against  you  ? " 

"  Madam,  I  must  tell  you  the  truth :  it  will  soon  be  eighteen 
months  since  I  ceased  obeying  the  king." 

"  Do  not  say  that,  my  son !  " 

"  Madam,  I  may  say  so  ;  for  the  king,  who  is,  as  it  were,  my 
father,  instead  of  cherishing  me  as  liis  child,  has  waged  war 
with  me  as  a  wolf,  and  as  to  you,  madam,  you  have  waged  war 
against  me  as  a  lioness." 

"  What !    Have  I  not  always  been  a  good  mother  to  you  ? " 

"  Yes,  madam,  but  that  was  only  in  my  childhood  ;  for  the  past 
six  years  I  have  noticed  that  your  disposition  is  greatly  changed." 

"  Believe  me,  my  son,  the  king  and  I  seek  only  your  good." 

"  Pardon  me,  madam,  I  perceive  quite  the  contrary." 

"  Let  that  pass,  my  son.  Do  you  wish  that  the  trouble  I  have 
taken  during  the  past  six  months  or  thereabouts  should  prove 
fruitless,  after  having  so  long  kept  trifling  with  me  ?  " 

"  Madam,  I  am  not  to  blame  for  this.  On  the  contrary,  it  is 
you  yourself.  I  do  not  prevent  you  from  resting  in  your  bed, 
but  it  is  you  that  for  eighteen  months  have  prevented  me  from 
sleeping  in  mine." 

"  What !  Shall  1  always  be  put  to  this  trouble — I  who  ask 
only  for  rest  ?  " 

"  Madam,  this  trouble  pleases  you,  and  is  your  very  food.  If 
you  were  at  rest,  you  could  not  live  long." 

"  How  now  ?  Formerly  I  used  to  see  you  so  gentle  and  tract- 
able ;  and  now  I  see  your  ire  flash  from  your  eyes,  and  I  hear 
it  in  your  words." 

"  Madam,  it  is  true  that  repeated  crosses  and  the  annoying 
treatment  to  which  you  have  subjected  me  have  induced  a 
change  in  me,  and  have  made  me  lose  my  native  disposition." 

"Well,  snice  you  can  do  nothing  of  yourself,  let  us  make  a 
short  truce,  during  which  you  may  confer  with  your  associates, 
so  as  to  facilitate  a  good  peace,  under  valid  passports  which  will 
be  sent  to  you  for  this  purpose." 

"  Well,  madam,  I  will  do  so." 

"  Do  not  deceive  yourself,  my  son  ;  you  expect  to  have  some 
reiters,  bi;t  you  will  have  none." 


1580. 


CONFERENCE  OF  SAINT  BRIS. 


411 


"  Madam,  I  did  not  come  here  to  receive  intelligence  from 
you.'" 

Such  were  the  first  words  of  Catharine  and  Navarre,  appar- 
ently taken  down  at  the  time  by  someone  that  was  present  at 
the  singular  interview.  They  show  that  the  Gascon  prince  was 
the  equal  of  the  cunning  Italian  woman  in  shrewdness,  and  not 
much  inferior  to  her  in  prompt  repartee.  Of  his  ready  wit  the 
Duke  of  Isevers  also  had  experience,  when,  at  this  same  confer- 
ence, he  ventured  to  tell  Henry  of  Navarre  that  he  would  find 
it  to  his  advantage  to  court  the  favor  of  the  King  of  France 
rather  than  of  a  mayor  of  La  Rochelle,  a  city  in  which  he  had 
not  influence  enough  to  make  an  impost  of  a  single  penny  in 
his  necessity.  "  We  understand  nothing  as  to  imposts,"  was 
the  swift  retort ;  "  for  we  have  not  an  Italian  among  us.  Yet 
I  do  what  I  will  at  La  Eochelle,  because  I  will  to  do  only  what 
I  ought." ' 

But  it  was  not  for  an  opportunity  to  display  his  mother-wit 
that  the  Hugi;enot  leader  had  come  to  Saint  Bris.  lie  sought, 
Catharine  re-  "^^'i^h  little  prospcct  of  obtaining  it,  some  way  of  re- 
reTigiouf™"'  storing  to  his  fellow-believers  the  civil  and  religious 
liberty.  rights  unjustly  denied  to  them  by  the  compact  of 
Nemours.  This,  however,  Catharine  had  not  the  slightest  idea 
of  conceding.  She  prated  only  of  the  absolute  necessity  of 
Navarre's  conversion  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  as  the 
sole  means  of  putting  an  end  to  the  miserable  conflict  now  rag- 
ing ;  and  she  was  very  properly  informed  that  she  might  well 
have  spared  herself,  ill  with  the  gout  as  she  was,  the  trouble 


'  This  interesting  dialogue,  given  by  Matthieu,  Histoire  de  France  soubs  les 
regnes  de  Francois  I.,  etc.,  ii.  518,  etc.,  and  reproduced  by  the  editor  of  the 
Lettres  missives  de  Henri  IV.,  ii.  251-253,  note,  bears  every  mark  of  authentic- 
ity. The  account  given  by  Mezeray,  iii.  G25,  which  Stiilielin  lias  made  use  of 
(Der  Ubertritt  Konig  Heinrichs  des  Vierten,  95,  note),  is  drawn  from  this 
source,  but  loses  in  vividness  through  tlie  attempt  to  give  a  more  modern  form 
to  the  phraseology. 

-  Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  iii.  23.  "  Le  Due  de  Nevers  osa  dire,  'Sire,  vous 
seriez  mieux  a  faire  la  cour  au  Roi  qu'au  maire  de  la  Rochelle,  ou  vous  n'avez 
pas  le  credit  d'imposer  un  sol  en  vos  necessitez.'  La  response  fut,  'Nous 
n'entendons  rien  aux  impositions,  car  il  n'y  a  pas  un  Italien  parmi  nous  ;  je 
fai  a  la  Rochelle  ce  que  je  veux,  en  n'y  voulant  que  ce  que  je  doi.'" 


412 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.      Ch.  VI. 


of  journeying  so  far  in  order  to  suggest  an  impossible  solution 
to  the  problem.  It  was  trying  to  remove  a  difficulty  by  means 
of  a  difficulty.  "  How,"  exclaimed  the  indignant  king,  "  with 
so  much  intelligence  as  you  possess,  have  you  come  from  so 
great  a  distance  to  propose  a  thing  so  detested,  and  one  respect- 
ing which  I  can  deliberate  with  conscience  and  honor  only 
by  means  of  a  legitimate  council,  to  which  I  and  my  followers 
will  submit  ?  "  ' 

There  was  no  danger  that  the  Huguenot  king  would  at  pres- 
ent make  any  imprudent  concessions,  least  of  all  to  Catha- 
rine de'  Medici.  In  fact,  it  is  only  by  remembering  the  strange 
fatuity  oftentimes  displayed  by  the  most  cunning  of  cheats,  that 
we  can  account  fur  the  almost  childish  simplicity  of  the  queen 
mother  in  her  notion  that  she  could  again  entrap  the  Protes- 
tants into  relaxing  their  military  preparations  and  countermand- 
ing levies  in  Germany  and  Switzerland,  the  fruit  of  so  much 
patient  toil.  But  Ilenry  of  Navarre  was,  as  he  declared  him- 
self to  be,  resolved  to  do  nothing  that  was  not  for  the  good  of 
the  Protestant  churches,  and  that  was  not  by  their  advice  and 
consent."  Smarting  under  the  consciousness  of  the  dishonorable 
manner  in  which  the  king  had  treated  him,  not  without  his 
mother's  connivance  and  persuasions  ;  remembering  how  he 
had  remained  inactive  for  long  months  in  obedience  to  the 
monarch's  command,  and  ready  to  fly  to  his  assistance,  and  this 
only  to  be  rewarded  by  being  made  the  victim  of  a  treacherous 
union  between  that  monarch  and  the  deadly  enemies  of  the 
Huguenots,  he  could  not  resist  the  temptation  to  tell  Catharine 
some  sober  truths.  She  apparently  expected  the  peace  of  the 
state  to  be  restored  by  a  proscribed  person,  the  prosperity  of  his 
native  land  by  a  man  driven  into  banishment !  ^  "  Madam," 
said  he,  with  pardonable  bitterness,  "  you  can  accuse  me  of  no 
fault  but  an  excess  of  fidelity.    As  for  myself,  I  do  not  com- 


'  "  De  laquelle  je  ne  puis  deliberer  avec  conscience  et  honneur,  que  par  un 
legitime  Concile,  auquel  nous  nous  soumettrons  moi  et  les  miens."  Agrippa 
d'Aubigne,  iii.  23. 

'-  Henry  of  Navarre  to  M.  de  Scorbiac,  December  27,  1586.  Lettres  missives, 
ii.  251. 

'  Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  ubi  supra. 


1586. 


CONFERENCE  OF  SAINT  BRIS. 


413 


plain  of  your  faith,  but  I  do  bewail  your  age,  which,  by  weak- 
ening your  memory,  makes  you  forget  easily  your  promises  to 
me." ' 

Despite  the  King  of  Navarre's  firm  attitude  with  regard  to  a 
change  of  religion,  it  cannot,  however,  be  denied  that  he  left 
the  impression  upon  Catharine  de'  Medici  and  upon 

The  possibility  ,  z,  , 

of  Navarre-8   otliers  that,  uut  tor  certain  aimcuJties  in  the  way,  tiie 

conversion,  irn  ii 

Huguenot  leader  would  very  cheeriully  make  tiie 
change  demanded  of  him.  It  may  well  be  that  the  sentiments 
now  to  be  recorded  were  really  opinions  gained  from  Catharine 
herself ;  for  the  writer,  Filippo  Cavriana,  of  Mantua,  besides 
being  a  secret  agent  of  the  Medicis,  was  a  physician,  apparently 
in  attendance  upon  the  queen  mother  during  lier  last  illness, 
two  years  after  the  period  now  under  consideration."  However 
this  may  be,  the  observing  writer,  within  sixty  days  from  the 
interviews  at  Saint  Bris,  wrote  thus  for  the  benefit  of  the  Flor- 
entine government :  "  The  King  of  Xavarre  would  like  to  be 
a  Catholic ;  but  he  fears  that,  situated  as  he  is,  the  Catholics 
would  ridicule  his  conversion,  and  that  he  would  have  to  work 
miracles  before  they  would  believe  him  to  be  a  Catholic  in  very 
deed.  If  then  the  present  king  were  to  die  in  this  interval, 
Navarre  would  not  become  king,  and  would  find  himself  de- 
prived of  the  support  of  many  by  means  of  whom  he  can  now 
render  himself  formidable  to  his  enemies.    This  is  the  most 


'  "  Lettred'un  gentilliomme  fran^ois,"  Memoires  de  laLigue,  ii.  90.  Besides 
the  authorities  already  quoted,  see  the  Memoires  de  Sully,  c.  22  ;  Perefixe, 
Histoire  du  Roy  Heury  le  Grand  (ed.  of  1662),  61-63  ;  Matthieu,  Histoire  des 
derniers  trouhles,  fols.  33,  34  ;  Davila,  bk.  8,  305-307;  the  articles  of  the  truce 
of  fifteen  days  (December  19,  1586),  Memoires  de  la  Ligue,  ii.  209,  210; 
Henry  of  Navarre's  circular  account  sent  out  to  the  Huguenots  in  the  different 
provinces,  dated  La  Rochelle,  December  29,  1586,  ibid.,  ii.  211-215.  Whether 
Catharine  was  better  pleased  than  most  women  would  have  been,  to  be  re- 
minded of  her  advancing  years,  does  not  appear.  It  will  be  remembered  tliat, 
liaving  been  born  April  13,  1519,  the  queen  mother  was  now  in  her  sixty-eighth 
year.  See  Comte  de  la  Ferric-re,  Lettres  de  Catherine  de  Medicis  (Paris,  1880), 
i.,  introd.,  pp.  i.,  ii. 

-  Negociations  avec  la  Toscane  (remarks  of  the  editor,  M.  Desjardins),  iv. 
602.  Compare  Cavriana's  own  account  of  Henry  III.  s  visit  to  his  mother's 
apartments  after  the  murder  of  the  Duke  of  Guise,  ibid.,  iv.  842. 


414 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE. 


Ch.  VI. 


powerful  reason  that  tends  to  make  liini  hard  and  obstinate  in 
his  opinion." ' 

Even  such  writers  as  applaud  the  subsequent  defection  of 
the  Bearnais  from  the  faith  in  which  he  was  reared,  and  style 
his  signal  act  of  hypocrisy  "  a  satisfaction  given  to  France  and 
the  earnest  of  a  new  compact  between  the  nation  and  his  race,"' 
are  compelled  to  agree  with  the  Florentine  Cavriana  that  had 
Henry  yielded  to  the  persuasions  of  the  King  of  France,  either 
at  this  time  or  when,  a  year  or  two  earlier,  Spernon  was  sent  to 
solicit  his  conversion,  that  convei'sion  would  have  been  ill-timed 
and  perilous.  And  one  of  Navan*e's  own  descendants,  who,  in 
our  own  days,  has  given  to  the  world  a  history  of  the  princes  of 
Conde,  does  not  conceal  his  opinion  that,  if  his  great  ancestor 
had  been  induced  by  Henry  the  Third's  threats  abruptly  and 
prematurely  to  accomplish  the  great  act  that  was  hereafter, 
forsooth,  to  put  an  end  to  the  long  prevailing  discord  in  France, 
he  would  only  have  reaped  ruin  and  dishonor  for  his  reward. 
!No  disturbance  would  have  been  quieted,  no  hatred  allayed, 
not  a  soldier  of  his  small  army  would  have  remained  with 
him.^ 

The  heroic  struggle  in  which  the  Huguenots  were  engaged 
was  well  fitted  to  throw  into  bold  relief  a  self-devotion  that 
knew  no  bounds  to  its  sacrifices  save  the  demands  of  the  great 
cause  of  religious  liberty  to  which  they  had  consecrated  all  their 
power  and  all  their  material  resources.  It  must  not,  however, 
be  forgotten  that  the  followers  of  the  holiest  of  standards  are 
after  all  but  men,  upon  whose  conduct,  conscientious  as  may  be 
their  motives,  the  circumstances  of  birth,  station,  and  education 
are  wont  to  exert  a  notable  influence.  The  Protestant  soldier 
looked  upon  the  course  of  events  from  a  very  different  point  of 
observation  from  the  civilian,  and  the  inhabitants  of  the  south- 
ern towns,  bred  to  suspicion  of  their  neighbors,  and  taught  by 


'  "  II  re  di  Navarre  vorebbe  essere  cattolico  ;  ma  teme  che,  come  egli  lo  sia, 
questi  altri  non  se  ne  burlino,  e  che  convenga  far  miracoli  innanzi  che  si  creda 
da  loro  che  lo  sia  da  dovero  ;  e  se  in  questo  mentre  il  Re  morisse,  egli  non 
sarebbe  re,  e  si  troverebbe  privo  dell'  appoggio  di  molti,  coi  quali  puo  dare  da 
fare  ai  suoi  nemici."    Letter  of  Cavriana,  February  16,  1587,  ibid.,  iv.  675. 

'-'  Due  d'Aumale,  Histoire  des  Princes  de  Conde,  ii.  141-143. 


158G. 


CHATILLON  AT  MILHAU. 


415 


the  fortunes  of  war  to  look  for  protection  mainly  to  their  own 
strong  arms  and  to  the  massiveness  of  their  fortifications,  en- 
tertained a  distrust,  which  was  far  from  being  unnat- 
distrustof  ural,  of  garrisous  composed  even  of  soldiers  of  their 
garrisons.  party.    The  experience  of  Fran9ois  de  Chatillon, 

at  Milhan,  throws  light  upon  the  divergent  views  and  the  preju- 
dices that  might  be  entertained  by  fellow-combatants  equally 
interested  in  a  common  warfare. 

Xo  city  of  France  was  more  thoroughly  Protestant  than 
Milhau-en-Rouergue,  situated  on  the  upper  waters  of  the  river 
Francois  de  Tam.  It  was  the  samo  place  which  had  declared,  at 
Miihlu?e°n*°'^  the  close  of  the  first  civil  war,  that  there  was  not  a 
Kouergue.  man,  womau,  or  child  within  its  walls  desirous  of  the 
restoration  of  the  papal  mass — the  same  Milhau  that  boasted 
that,  were  the  churches  to  be  restored  to  the  lioman  Catholics, 
in  accordance  with  the  terms  of  the  Edict  of  Amboise,  no  one 
could  be  found  to  take  possession  of  them.'  More  than  once 
had  the  political  assemblies  of  the  Huguenots  been  convened 
within  its  friendly  and  hospitable  enclosure.  Such  honors, 
and,  perhaps,  a  natural  pride  arising  from  the  prolonged  enjoy- 
ment of  security  in  the  midst  of  prevailing  disorder  and  vio- 
lence, engendered  a  feeling  of  self-sufficiency,  and  fostered  a 
sensitiveness  that  would  have  been  more  appropriate  in  the  case 
of  an  independent  republic.  It  is  true  that  the  citizens  were 
deeply  moved  by  the  tidings  of  the  approach  of  the  king's 
forces,  and  urgently  called  upon  Chatillon  to  grant  them  the 
services  of  an  engineer  well  versed  in  the  important  art  of 
building  and  strengthening  fortifications.  The  consuls  and  other 
leading  inhabitants  went  even  farther,  and  thrice  despatched 
envoys  to  beg  the  brave  son  of  Admiral  Coligny  to  accept  the 
post  of  governor  of  Rouergue,  and  to  assure  him  of  their  hearty 
esteem  and  confidence.  But  when  once  Chatillon  had  come  in 
the  capacity  of  lieutenant-general  of  the  King  of  Navarre,  and 
had  brought  with  him  the  force  of  arquebusiers  they  had  them- 
selves solicited,  the  citizens  speedily  changed  their  minds.  The 
Huguenot  soldier  was  a  less  inviting  object  near  at  hand  than 


'  Kise  of  the  Huguenots,  ii.  147. 


416 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HEXRY  OF  NAVARRE.       Cn.  VL 


when  seen  at  a  distance.  As  this  soldier,  moreover,  liad  to  be 
fed  and  lodged,  enthusiasm  gave  place  to  coldness,  and  grati- 
tude to  disgust.  Just  in  proportion  to  his  wealth,  the  burgher 
Mutii.li  jeai-  was  reluctant  to  open  his  door  to  the  im welcome 
cltizinfanT  guest,  aud  it  was  said  that  the  well-to-do  were  quite 
soldiers.  willing  that  the  heaviest  part  of  the  burden  of  enter- 
tainment should  be  borne  by  the  poor.  To  Chatillon's  sug- 
gestion that,  in  view  of  the  scarcity  of  provisions,  the  citizens 
should  be  req\;ired  to  make  a  common  store  of  the  wheat  in 
their  private  granaries,  the  consuls  returned  an  answer  savoring 
strongly  of  insolence.  They  informed  him  that  they  were  no 
minor  wards  in  need  of  a  guardian,  but  could  manage  their  own 
affairs  without  his  assistance.  But  most  was  their  ire  aroused 
when  Chatillon,  being  unable  to  spare  so  large  a  part  of  his 
forces  for  Milhau,  now  out  of  actual  danger,  undertook  to  put 
the  royal  castle  wliich  stood  in  the  place  in  a  condition  to  resist, 
with  a  diminished  garrison,  any  sudden  attack  of  the  enemy. 
The  cry  was  heard  on  all  sides  that  Chatillon  was  erecting  a 
"  citadel  — that  very  instrument  of  tyranny  against  whose  erec- 
tion in  other  cities  the  Protestants  of  France  had  ag-ain  and  ai>ain 
protested.  Conjecture  made  way  for  certainty  in  the  minds  of 
the  people,  when  Chiitillon  politeh'  declined,  as  a  lieutenant  act- 
ing in  Xavarre's  name,  to  intrust  the  guard  of  the  stronghold 
to  a  company  of  citizen  soldiers,  who,  as  he  shrewdly  suspected, 
would  be  likely  to  take  advantage  of  the  first  opportunity  af- 
forded by  the  temporary  absence  of  the  arquebusiers  on  duty 
elsewhere,  to  close  the  gates  of  the  city  against  their  return. 
At  length,  the  popular  ferment  ran  so  high  that  one  winter  s 
morning  (the  third  of  January,  15ST),  Chatillon  himself  being 
away,  the  tocsin  was  violently  rung.  At  the  preconcerted  signal 
the  whole  city  rose  as  one  man.  Workmen  rushed  into  the 
streets  armed  with  what  tools  they  could  lay  hands  on.  "Women 
The  citizens  braudislied  spits  and  other  domestic  utensils.  Even 
terTTthe*'^  cliildreu  provided  themselves,  as  best  they  could,  with 
sticks  and  stones.  In  a  moment  the  few  straggling 
soldiers  found  in  the  public  thoroughfares  were  overpowered. 
The  mob,  surging  on  toward  the  obnoxious  castle,  then  de- 
manded its  surrender.    The  single  officer  in  command  and  his 


15S7. 


CHATILLON  AT  MILHAU. 


417 


followers,  numbering  scarcely  more  than  seven  or  eight,  and 
without  store  of  provisions  or  hope  of  speedy  relief,  dared  not 
attempt  to  hold  out.  The  evacuation  was  effected,  however, 
with  as  much  formality  as  if  the  parties  to  the  transaction  had 
been  deadly  enemies,  instead  of  Huguenots  battling  for  the 
same  great  principles.  Many  hands  now  made  light  work  of 
-nv,         1 the  destruction  of  all  Chritillon's  new  works,  and  that 

The    citadel  ^ 

demolished,  night  the  satisfied  citizens  of  Milhau  went  to  their 
beds  proud  of  the  fact  that  no  "  citadel  "  any  longer  menaced 
their  freedom.  A  day  or  two  later,  a  town  meeting,  called,  ac- 
cording to  custom,  by  the  ringing  of  the  bells,  resolved,  after 
due  deliberation,  that  inasmuch  as  the  thing  had  been  accom- 
plished, the  King  of  Xavarre  should  be  requested  to  approve 
of  the  result  and  restore  matters  to  their  old  condition.  The 
consuls  of  Milhau  took  great  pains  to  impress  upon  Henry  and 
their  fellow  Protestants  throughout  the  kingdom  the  justice  of 
their  cause  and  the  magnitude  of  the  insults  to  which  they  had 
been  subjected.  They  failed,  however,  to  convince  impartial 
men  that  the  son  of  the  great  martyr  of  Saint  Bartholomew's 
Day  had  grievously  erred ;  and  an  assembly  of  the  churches  of 
Languedoc,  which  met  soon  after  in  Xismes,  gravely  censured 
the  fault  committed  by  the  citizens  of  Milhau.' 


'  See  "  Discours  veritable  des  actions  et  comportemens  de  M.  de  Cliastillon 
pendant  le  temps  qu'il  a  este  a  Milliau-en-Rouergue,  et  de  la  sedition  que  les 
consuls  et  habitans  auroient  esmeue  ii  I'eucoutre  de  lui,"  in  Memoires  de  Du- 
plessis  Mornay,  iii.  434-4.52.  This  aecoiuit,  which  is  altogether  favorable  to 
Chatillon,  may  profitably  be  compared  witli  a  number  of  documents  recently 
brought  to  light  by  Loutchitzky,  and  printed  in  his  Documents  inidits  pour 
servir  a  I'histoire  de  la  Reforme  et  de  la  Ligue,  195-216.  These  papers  pre- 
sent the  strongest  points  of  the  case  for  the  citizens.  In  particular,  the  docu- 
ment entitled  "Articles  presente.s  par  les  consuls  de  Millau  aux  Estats  de 
Rouergue  convoques  par  Mr.  de  Cliastillon,  gouverneur  du  pais  pour  le  Roy 
de  Navarre,  sur  la  citadelle  qu'il  faisoit  faire  en  ladite  ville,  1586,"  denounced 
the  building  of  the  citadel  as  a  mark  of  dishonor,  since  it  reduced  the  burgh- 
ers to  a  servile  condition,  and  as  an  evidence  of  Chatillon's  disregard  of  the 
oath  he  had  taken  to  preserve  their  privileges,  prerogatives,  and  accustomed 
liberties  under  all  preceding  kings.  See,  also,  Count  Jules  Delaborde's  mono- 
graph, Francois  de  Chastillou,  255,  256. 
Vol.  I.— 27 


418 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.      Ca  VII. 


CHAPTER  YII. 

THE  BATTLE  OF  COUTRAS,  AND  THE  ARMY  OF  THE  REITERS. 

The  first  eighteen  months  of  the  war  had  been  barren  enough 
of  stirring  incident.   The  great  military  demonstrations  of  Henry 
and  the  Leamie  had  come  to  nothing;.    Tlie  Hugue- 

The  war  ac-  i         i  i 

compiishes     nots  Were  f  ullv  as  strong  as  they  had  been  when  the 

nothing.  "  o  ./ 

unrighteous  Edict  of  Nemours  was  promulgated,  and 
certainly  nnich  less  dispirited.  Having  lost  by  apostasy  the 
timid  and  wavering,  those  who  remained  constant  were  more 
than  ever  determined  to  accept  no  peace  save  one  that  recog- 
nized their  religion  and  permitted  its  exercise.  On  the  other 
hand,  had  resolutions  to  the  effect  that  there  should  be  but  one 
religion  in  France  been  of  any  avail,  the  fate  of  Protestantism 
would  have  been  finally  settled.  At  the  beginning  of  the  new 
year,  the  knights  of  the  Order  of  the  Holy  Ghost  went  through 
the  farce  of  passing  such  a  resolution,  prompted  thereto  by  the 
king,  who  himself  promised  to  take  horse  and  lead  against  the 
heretics.  Instead  of  which,  for  the  present,  his  Very  Christian 
majesty  confined  his  activity  to  making  a  round  of  the  various 
monasteries  and  other  religious  houses,  in  the  course  of  which 
the  public  was  astonished,  if,  indeed,  any  puerile  action  on  Henry's 
part  had  longer  the  power  to  excite  surprise,  at  seeing  him  suc- 
cessively donning  the  costume  of  each  community.'    Not  to  the 


'  Journal  d'un  cure  ligueur  (Jehan  de  la  Fosse),  204,  under  tlie  date  of 
January  9,  1587.  Davila,  308,  concedes  that  the  king's  declaration  appeared  to 
many  persons,  then  and  sixhsequently,  absurd  and  contradictory,  as  tioming 
from  a  prince  who,  by  means  of  the  queen  mother,  was,  or  had  been  only  a  few 
da3-s  before,  treating  with  these  same  "  heretics  "  that  were  to  be  exterminated  ; 
but  the  Italian  historian  will  liave  it  that  the  declaration  was  opportune,  since 
thereby  "he  at  once  beat  down  all  the  complaints  and  calumnies  of  the  heads 
of  the  League,  and  appeased  in  great  part,  at  least  for  a  time,  the  minds  of 


1587. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  COUTRAS. 


419 


knights  of  the  order  alone  did  the  king  give  pions  assurances. 
Again  he  assembled  in  the  Louvre  a  select  company  of  some  of 
the  presidents  of  parliament,  the  prevot  des  marchands,  and 
other  officials,  whom  he  informed  of  his  intention  to  push  the 
war  against  the  Protestants  to  the  direst  extremity,  and  of  his 
expectation  to  be  able  to  crush  them  within  the  next  two  years. 
His  sentiments  of  loyalty  to  the  Roman  Catholic  faith  were 
duly  applauded  by  his  hearers,  who,  despite  their  previous  ex- 
*  periences  of  the  same  kind,  may  not  have  been  prepared  on  the 
instant  for  the  modest  demand  which  the  king  proceeded  at  once 
to  make,  of  six  hundred  thousand  livi*es  for  the  purpose  of  pros- 
ecuting the  war.' 

Meantime  his  majesty  had  gained  nothing  in  the  esteem  and 
confidence  of  the  adherents  of  the  League,  who  were  convinced 
— and  they  were  quite  right — that  he  was  very  willing  to  have 
the  power  of  his  rebellious  subjects  broken,  even  if  this  had  to  be 
done  by  means  of  an  army  of  reiters  such  as  John  Casimir  was 
known  to  be  getting  ready  in  Germany  for  the  benefit  of  the 
Huguenots  of  France.  In  Paris  the  turbulent  Koman  Catholics 
were  prepared  to  adopt  the  most  desiderate  measures ; 

The  zeal  of 

the  League     and,  mucli  to  the  annoyance  of  the  Duke  of  Guise, 

at  Paris.  '  \i  ' 

his  brother,  the  Duke  of  Mayenne,  encouraged  them 
in  these  inopportune  and  premature  ventures.  At  one  time  it 
was  proposed  to  surprise  the  king  as  he  should  ride  through  the 
Rue  Saint  Antoine,  on  his  way  from  the  Bois  de  Vincennes  to 
the  Louvre.  At  another,  the  scene  of  the  execution  of  the  con- 
spiracy was  to  be  the  dining-hall  of  the  abbey  in  the  faubourg 
of  Saint  Germain,  when  the  monarch  should  have  i-epaired 
thither  to  attend  the  fair.  What  was  to  be  done  with  him  when 
his  person  should  be  secured,  was  the  next  question,  and  it  was 
answered  in  various  ways.  A  king  is  a  troublesome  prisoner 
to  have  in  one's  possession,  and  some  were  in  favor  of  at  once 
falling  upon  him  and  killing  him ;  while  others  would  have 


the  Parisians."  Davila  seems  to  have  forgotten  that,  within  the  next  sixty 
days,  the  Parisians  were,  as  we  shall  see  presently,  conspiring  against  the 
king's  liberty,  if  not  against  his  life. 

'  Lestoile,  under  date  of  January  10,  1587,  i.  214  ;  Memoires  de  Henry 
III.,  98. 


420 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.      Cn.  VII. 


been  content  to  shut  him  up  in  a  monastery.  But  the  conspira- 
tors were,  happily  or  unhappily,  spared  the  trouble  of  deciding  ; 
for  Henry's  trusty  spy,  Nicholas  Poulain,  reported  each  plot  in 
ample  time  for  his  majesty  to  guard  against  it.'  As  for  Mayenne 
and  his  fellow-conspirators,  they  found  it  no  easy  matter  to  ex- 
cuse themselves  to  Guise  for  their  breach  of  faith  in  not  re- 
maining quiet  according  to  their  engagement  to  him  : 

Annoyance  ofj  ,  oo  5 

«ie_Dukeof   and  were  only  too  glad  to  beg  his  pardon  and  give 
renewed  assurances  of  their  undying  confidence  in  his 
leadership,  and  of  their  hope  of  success  under  so  brave  a  captain.' 

The  year  opened  well  for  the  Huguenot  arms.    Success  at- 
tended the  enterprises  of  the  King  of  Navarre  in  the  west,  not 
less  than  those  of  Lesdigiiieres  in  the  east.    The  for- 

Huguenot  .  •      •  ^ 

successes  in    mcr,  overcomiug  the  timid  counsels  of  the  buro-hers 

Poitou.  ,  .  ^ 

of  La  Eoclielle — satisfied,  for  the  most  part,  if  they 
could  hold  the  neighboi-liood  of  their  own  walls — did  not  rest 
content  till  he  had  extended  the  boundaries  of  the  district  in 
which  the  Huguenots  had  the  upper  hand  by  the  capture  of 
such  important  towns  of  Poitou  as  Fontenay-le-Comte,  Saint 
Maixent,  and  Talmont,  not  to  speak  of  other  places  of  less  note.^ 
In  Dauphiny,  on  the  other  hand,  brave  Lesdiguieres  added  yet 
Lesdiguieres  ^^^ove  to  liis  wcll-eamed  laurels  by  a  series  of  captures 
in  Dauphiny.  stvetcliiug  witli  little  inteiTuptiou  through  the  sum- 
mer, the  natural  result  of  the  pains  taken  by  that  careful  general 
in  spending  the  first  three  months  of  the  year  in  a  personal 
inspection  of  the  province.*    It  is  true  that  no  vigilance  of  his 

'  "  Le  Procez  verbal  d'un  nomme  Nicolas  Poulain,"  in  Memoires  de  Henry 
III.,  155-165  ;  Letter  of  Cavriana,  Marcli  3,  1587,  in  Negociations  avec  la  Tos- 
cane,  iv.  676,  etc.  ;  Lestoile,  i.  215,  216.  See  De  Thou,  vi.  737,  etc.  ;  De 
Croze,  ii.  3,  etc. 

'-  "Monsieur  de  Guise,"  says  Poulain  (ubi  supra,  165),  "  estant  avert}-  de 
I'entreprise  du  Due  de  Ma3'enne,  en  fut  fort  courrouce  contre  ceux  de  la  Ligue  : 
de  faitil  leur  envoya  le  Sieur  de  Mayneville,  pour  s9avoirqui  les  avoit  mens  de 
ce  f  aire  .  .  .  qu'ils.sqavoientce  qu'il  leur  avoit  promis,  s'ilsne  s'asseuroient 
pas  assez  sur  sa  foi ;  et  finalement  qu'ils  eussent  a  dire,  s'ils  estoient  entrez  eu 
quelque  soup9on  et  defiance  de  luy." 

'  Lestoile,  i.  235  ;  Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  iii.  37-40. 

''  Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  iii.  33,  etc.  ;  De  Thou,  vii.  53,  54.  See,  especially, 
the  report  sent  to  Henry  of  Navarre,  entitled  "Memoires  de  ce  qui  s'est  passe 
en  Daulphiue,  depuis  le  mois  d'Avril,  jusques  au  vingtiesme  de  Decembre, 


1587. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  COUTRAS. 


421 


could  prevent  the  surprise  of  the  important  city  of  Monteli- 
inart,  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhone  below  Valence,  one  Sun- 
day morning  in  August ;  but  the  Huguenots  held  the  castle 
of  the  place,  and,  instead  of  abandoning  hope,  promptly  took 
measures  to  recover  what  they  had  lost.  On  Wednesday 
morning  of  the  same  week,  a  little  force  of  two  hundred  Prot- 
estant cuirassiers,  and  perhaps  a  thousand  men  carrying  the 
arquebuse,  who  had  been  gathered  from  far  and  near,  at  the 
news  of  the  disaster,  made  a  furious  assault  upon  the  barricades 
of  the  enemy.  Kor  did  they  prove  unequal  to  the  perilous  en- 
terprise. The  works  were  carried,  and  the  Huguenots  did  not 
stay  their  impetuous  valor  before  they  had  slain  of  their  an- 
tagonists almost  twice  their  own  number.  The  hero  in  this 
action,  if,  indeed,  all  that  took  part  were  not  entitled  to  be 
termed  heroes,  was  the  Baron  du  Poet,  to  whose  sagacious 
planning  and  bold  execution  was  due  the  success  of  the  enter- 
prise, with  the  capture  of  a  large  number  of  noblemen  of  dis- 
tinction, at  the  loss  of  scarcely  more  than  a  score  of  killed 
and  one  hundred  and  twenty  wounded.'    But  if  the  adventure 


1587,"  reprinted  in  Memoires  de  la  Ligue,  ii.  221-227  ;  as  well  as  a  royalist 
account  printed  at  Paris,  by  Guillaume  Linocier,  with  privilege  of  the  king, 
September  31,  1587,  ibid.,  ii.  227-229. 

'  "  Veritablement  ce  fut  un  a3uvre  de  Dieu,  et  toutesfois  ne  pent  estre 
desnie  a  la  valleur,  diligence,  et  sage  conduitte  du  sieur  du  Poet,  gouverneur 
de  laditte  place  (comme  a  I'instrument  principal)  cest  heureux  exploit :  ayant 
avec  si  petit  nombre  de  gens  de  guerre  (a  S(;avoir  environ  douze  cens  hommes), 
force  plus  de  trois  mil  hommes  de  combat,  preparez  et  logez  avantageusement 
dedans  leurs  barricades,  fianquees  et  defiFendues  en  front  par  trois  pieces  de 
canon."  Memoires  de  ce  qui  s'est  passe  en  Daulphinc,  etc.,  iibi  supra,  ii.  224. 
Du  Poet,  a  noted  Protestant  leader  of  Dauphiny,  during  the  greater  part  of 
the  second  half  of  the  sixteenth  century,  is  a  personage  the  more  interesting 
as  the  nobleman  to  whom  are  addressed  two  letters  purporting  to  come  from 
the  pen  of  the  reformer  Calvin',  which,  after  having  been  quoted  without  ques- 
tion as  genuine  originals  by  Voltaire,  Audin,  Capefigue,  and  others,  M.  Jules 
Bonnet  (Lettres  franqaises  de  Calvin,  ii.  588-595)  has  proved  to  be  the  most 
patent  of  forgeries.  The  handwriting  is  not  Calvin's,  nor  that  of  his  secretary  ; 
the  style  is  as  harsh  and  turgid  as  the  style  of  the  Genevese  reformer  vvas 
graceful  and  forcible,  and  anachronisms  abound.  In  short,  these  productions 
have  nothing  to  commend  them  to  the  acceptance  of  the  most  partial  enemy 
of  Calvin,  save  that  they  represent  him  as  truculently  uttering  the  sentiment 
respecting  perverse  Roman  Catholic  preachers  that  '•sucli  monsters  ought 


423 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.       Cn.  VII. 


of  Montelimai't  proved  that  a  small  army  of  Huguenots  might, 
under  good  leaders,  overcome  and  destroy  a  force  of  Roman 
Catholics  far  superior  in  numbers,  an  incident,  which  is  said  to 
have  occurred  on  the  very  day  of  the  recapture  of  the  town, 
Routof  Swiss  demonstrated  with  equal  clearness  that  a  handful  of 
auxiliaries.  Roman  Catholic  soldiers  might  rout  and  cut  to  pieces 
an  entire  battalion  of  Protestants.  The  scene  of  the  defeat  was 
in  Dauphiny,  and  the  victims  were  a  body  of  Swiss,  variously 
stated  at  three  or  at  four  thousand  men,  accompanied  by  an 
escort  of  four  or  five  hundred  French  troops,  whom  Yezins  and 
Cugy  were  bringing  to  the  help  of  Lesdiguieres.  The  instru- 
ments in  their  destruction  were  Bernard  de  la  Yalette,  brother 
of  the  Duke  of  Epernon,  and  not  more  than  five  hundred  arque- 
busiers,  supported  by  four  companies  of  cavalry.  Twelve  hun- 
dred prisoners  sent  to  work  on  the  fortifications  of  Valence,  and 
nine  or  ten  standai'ds  forwarded  to  the  king  at  Paris,  testified  to 
the  reality  of  the  exploit  of  the  royal  troops,  at  a  period  when 
many  a  victory  loudly  proclaimed  at  the  capital  existed  only  in 
the  imagination  of  romancers/  "What  rendered  the  defeat  of  the 
Swiss  the  more  renaarkable  was  that  it  took  place  on  a  spot  in 
every  way  favorable  for  infantry,  and  where  the  enemy  coiild 
scarcely  have  approached  them  with  any  more  serious  intent 
than  to  reconnoitre.  "  Surely,"  writes  the  pious  chronicler, 
"  God  makes  numbers  and  arms  to  be  good  for  just  so  much  as 
it  pleases  Him."  ° 

Meanwhile  the  condition  of  things  at  Paris  was  such  as  to 


to  be  smothered  (Stouffes)  as  I  have  done  here,  in  the  execution  of  Michael 
Servetus,  a  Spaniard!" 

'  The  Protestant  and  Roman  Catholic  accounts  agree  remarkably  well,  al- 
though there  is  some  discrepancy  in  figures.  See  Memoires  de  la  Ligue,  ii. 
234,  228.  De  Thou,  vii.  (book  88)  55,  displays  his  usual  impartiality.  Agrippa 
d'Aubign^'s  account  (iii.  34)  is  too  brief  to  be  satisfactory. 

^  "Dieu  fait  comme  il  lui  plaist  valoir  le  nombre  et  les  armes. "  Memoires 
de  la  Ligue,  ii.  225.  The  defeat  of  the  Swiss  took  place,  according  to  Agrippa 
d'Aubigne,  iii.  34,  "  pres  d'Uriage  ;  "  or,  according  to  De  Thou,  following  tlie 
account  in  the  Memoires  de  la  Ligue,  on  the  banks  of  the  Isere  and  Drac — that 
is,  at  the  confluence  of  these  two  streams — near  the  city  of  Grenoble  (Is&re). 
St.  Martin  d'Uriage  is  a  village  of  over  two  thousand  inhabitants  five  miles 
east  of  Grenoble,  and  Uriage  is  at  present  a  station  upon  the  Lyons  and  Cliam- 
bery  railway. 


1587. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  COUTRAS. 


423 


perplex  the  most  clear-headed  of  statesmen ;  not  that  they  were 
in  doubt  as  to  what  ought  to  be  done,  but  that  they  could  not 
divine  what  would  be  done.   The  great  difficulty  was 
of  Henry  of    that  tlio  king;  did  not  know  his  own  mind  for  twentv- 

Valois  ,  . 

four  hours  together.  "Whatever  qualities  of  his 
mother  he  had  failed  to  inherit,  there  was  no  question  that 
Jier  vacillation  had  been  fully  transmitted  to  him.  With 
two  such  unstable  characters  at  the  helm  of  state,  it  became 
a  matter  of  perfect  uncertainty  toward  which  point  of  the  com- 
pass the  course  w^ould  next  be  directed.  To  this  it  must  be 
added  that  Catharine  was  strongly  suspected  of  perfidy  to  the 
king,  and  of  being  as  untrue  to  him  as  she  was  to  the  Guises. 
'•  There  are  those  that  believe,"  wrote  the  Italian  Cavriaua, 
employing  an  expressive  proverb  of  his  countrymen,  "  that  in 
her  eagerness  to  have  the  control  of  affairs,  the  queen  mother 
slyly  gives  a  blow  now  to  the  cask,  now  to  the  hoop." '  Under 
these  circumstances  men  knew  not  what  to  do.  Those  who 
would  have  preferred  to  follow  his  service  faithfully,  seeing 
so  much  irresolution  in  Henry  of  Valois,  feared  that  when 
they  should  have  rendered  themselves  hateful  to  the  Guises 
by  some  open  act  of  loyalty,  they  might  be  abandoned  to  the 
mercy  of  these  pitiless  enemies  by  the  shifting  policy  of  the 
monarch.  And  yet,  had  Henry  chosen  to  pursue  a  manly 
course,  he  had  still  a  following  strong  enough  to  defeat  the 
intrigues  of  the  League.  As  the  picture  is  painted  by  a  con- 
The  parties  temporary,  the  king  could  count  upon  the  support  of 
at  court.  three  Bourbon  princes — Soissons,  Conty,  and  Mont- 
pensier  ;  upon  such  great  nobles  as  Nevers,  Longueville,  Biron, 
Aumont,  Matignon,  and  ^Epernon  ;  upon  the  public  magistrates, 
the  parliaments,  the  wealthy  holders  of  lauds,  the  old  mili- 
tary captains,  the  men  of  ripe  thought  and  experience,  and 
even  a  part  of  the  clergy — possibly  a  few  among  the  Jesuits 
themselves,  who  began  to  recognize  the  fact  that  the  League 
was  likely  to  prove  disastrous  to  France.  On  the  other  hand, 
Guise  had  at  his  devotion  the  inferior  people — the  mob — the 


'  "  Anzi  c'd  chi  crede  ch'ella,  per  avere  il  maueggio  delle  cose,  dia  un  colpo 
alia  botte  e  I'altro  al  cercliio.'' 


4:24:  THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.       Ce.  VII. 


needy  part  of  the  population  and  outlaws  from  society,  the 
inhabitants  of  the  towns,  some  governors  of  strongholds,  and, 
as  was  believed,  the  king's  mother  and  his  wife,  together  with 
almost  the  entire  clergy.  It  was  needless  to  add  the  Spanish 
ambassador,  who  was  the  prime  mover  and  counsellor  of  the 
plot.  "What  might  not  have  been  expected,  was  that  it  included 
Brulart,  one  of  the  kings  own  secretaries  of  state,  Villequier, 
his  former  tutor,  and  Rene  de  Birague,  L'Hospital's  unworthy 
successor  in  the  office  of  chancellor.  Such  was  the  depth  of 
meanness  to  which  some  of  the  highest  functionaries  of  state 
had  descended,  encouraged  thereto  doubtless  by  the  example  of 
Catharine.  But  there  was  good  reason  to  expect  that  this  prin- 
cess, if  not  the  imitators  of  her  double-dealing,  would  come  to 
grief.  She  had  lost  none  of  her  assurance ;  she  was  just  as 
confident  as  ever  that  she  would  be  able  by  her  intrigues  to 
make  Huguenots  and  Leaguers  take  up  arms  and  lay  them  down 
again  at  her  pleasure.  "  But  the  Huguenots,  already  cheated 
three  or  four  times  by  her  words  and  artifices,  are  no  longer 
willing  to  believe  her  in  any  wise,  and  it  is  precisely  so  also 
with  Guise." ' 

Indeed,  the  duke  had  recently  given  conclusive  proof  of  the 
fact  that  he  had  passed  bej'ond  the  reach  of  the  influence  both 
of  Catharine  de'  Medici  and  of  her  promising  son  and  pupil  in 
the  art  of  dissimulation. 

One  Saturday,  toward  the  end  of  May,  the  queen  mother  had 
had  an  interview  with  Guise  at  Fere-en-Tardenois."  Catharine 
began  with  her  accustomed  blandishments.  Feigning 
mother-sin-   iguorauce  of  the  reasons  of  the  duke's  discontent,  she 

terview  with  i  i  .        i        i  i      i  ■  t 

Guise.  May,  assurcd  liim  that  her  son  the  king  was  very  strongly 
disposed  to  advance  him  more  than  ever,  knowing 
that  he  had  not  a  more  faithful  subject  nor  one  that  was  more 
worthy  of  being  intrusted  with  great  offices  of  state.  "  In 
short,"  says  the  account  which  Guise  sent  to  Mendoza,  "  she 


'  See  the  instructive  letters  of  Cavriana  of  June  24  and  July  5,  1587,  in 
Negociations  avec  la  Toscane,  iv.  693-699. 

-  In  the  southern  part  of  the  present  department  of  Aisne,  between  Chateau- 
Thierry  and  Rheims. 


1587. 


THE  BATTLE  OP  COUTRAS. 


425 


thrice  addressed  to  him  snch  language,  and  thrice  resorted  to 
such  artifices  as  are  represented  to  us  in  the  Gospel :  '  Haic 
omnia  tibi  dabo ' — '  All  these  things  will  I  give  thee,  if  thou 
wilt  fall  down  and  worship  me.'  "  The  faithful  chronicler  does 
not  tell  us  that  the  redoubtable  duke  answered  his  tempter, 
"  Get  thee  hence,  Satan ;"  but  none  the  less  was  he  proof  against 
her  seductions.  '*  Madam,"  said  he,  "  I  have  always  been  hon- 
ored by  the  favors  and  gifts  of  the  king.  I  have  always  tried 
to  respect  his  commands  and  employ  my  life  in  their  execution. 
I  have  no  cause  of  discontent  for  myself  individually.  But  let  us 
come  to  the  public  interests,  to  which  I  protest  I  have  altogether 
devoted  myself."  When,  however,  the  concerns  of  state  were 
taken  up,  an  irreconcilable  diversity  of  opinion  was  developed. 
The  seizure  of  the  king's  cities  in  Picardy  and  elsewhere,  which 
Catharine  complained  of,  demanding  their  restitution,  the  duke 
justified  as  a  meritorious  act  which  he  stood  ready  to  defend 
with  his  own  life.  In  fact,  the  queen  mother  had  nothing  for 
her  pains  but  the  sorry  privilege  of  listening  to  a  repetition  of 
the  old  story  of  the  grievances  to  which  the  good  Catholics  of 
France  were  subjected,  and  the  indignities  shown  to  their  religion. ' 

About  a  month  later,  the  queen  mother  procured  a  meeting 
between  Henry  of  Valois  and  Henry  of  Guise,  at  Meaux.  The 
Meeting  be-  king  met  his  I'ival  very  graciously,  and  even  conde- 
InaTh^Di^ke^  scended  to  entreat  him  to  turn  his  mind  only  to  peace, 
of  Guise.  j^j^j  prevent  the  kingdom  from  becoming  a  prey 
to  the  devastations  of  war.  He  told  him  that  he  was  himself 
resolved  to  tolerate  but  one  religion  in  France,  and  yet  that, 
under  the  present  necessity,  he  hoped  to  buy  a  good  peace  and 
turn  aside  the  foreign  troops  from  entering  his  dominions.  But 
Guise  would  hear  of  no  peace,  and  begged  his  majesty  to  re- 
member only  that  religion  was  in  its  death-throes.  He  com- 
plained of  the  maltreatment  of  good  Catholic  cities  and  leaders. 
The  king  was  able  to  meet  these  statements  by  counter  re- 
proaches of  the  usurpation  of  the  royal  prerogative  and  other 

'  "  Entrevue  de  la  Reine  Mere  avec  le  Due  de  Guise  a  Reims,"  dated  May 
25,  1587  ;  being  an  account  drawn  up  at  Guise's  command,  sent  by  him  to 
Mendoza,  and  bv  Mendoza  to  Pliilip  II.  in  a  despatch  of  June  9.  De  Croze, 
ii.  284-286. 


426  THE  HUGUENOTS  AXD  HEXRY  OF  XAVARRE.      Ch.  VII 


acts  of  insubordination.  Wlien  the  dnke  undertook  to  reply, 
the  king  cut  him  short,  and  led  him  into  another  room,  where 
the  farce  ended  with  a  pretended  reconciliation  between  Guise 
and  Epernon,  who  embraced  each  other  so  affectionately  that 
they  might  have  been  mistaken  for  the  best  friends  in  the 
world.'  Xor  was  it  wonderful  that  Henry  of  Guise  would  not 
listen  to  the  suggestion  of  peace.  Overwhelmed  with  debt,  and 
Theduke-s  Gverv  month  becoming  more  and  more  involved,  it 
debts.  ^^.jjg       q£  ^j^g  question  for  him  to  pause  in  the  work 

upon  which  he  had  been  incited  by  Philip  the  Second  to  enter, 
but  for  the  prosecution  of  which  that  penurious  monarch, 
through  his  ambassador,  furnished  him  very  scantily  the  need- 
ful funds.'  The  treasuries  of  Venice  and  Florence,  with  the 
treasury  of  the  pope  superadded,  would  scarcely  have  been  suf- 
ficient to  free  the  good  duke  from  his  load  of  obligations. ' 

Meanwhile  the  war  both  in  the  east  and  in  the  west  gave 
signs  of  becoming  more  decisive  than  it  had  hitherto  been.  Early 
joycnse  ^^^^  Spring  the  Duke  of  Joyeuse  led  a  large  army 

marches  to-    in  tliG  dirsctiou  of  the  Iving  of  Xavarre,  and  the  latter 

ward  Guyeune.  ^    t     r  t  •         r  i 

prudently  retreated  betore  the  superior  force  to  the 
walls  of  La  Rochelle.  The  duke  thereupon  proceeded  to  retake 
certain  places  which  had  fallen  into  Huguenot  hands — Saint 
Maixent,  Tonnay  Charente,  and  Maillezais,  but  distinguished  him- 
self less  by  the  brilliancy  of  his  exploits  than  by  the  ferocity 
in  which  he  permitted  his  soldiers  to  indulge.  A  Protestant 
minister,  M.  de  la  Jarriere,  who  was  discovered  among  the  sol- 
diers of  the  garrison  of  Saint  Maixent,  as  they  were  leaving  the 
place  after  the  capitulation,  Avas  by  his  orders  ignominiously 
executed — a  needless  act  of  cruelty  toward  a  person  of  recognized 
excellence  of  character,  which  was  far  from  conciliating  the 
favor  of  the  Protestants  to  whom  he  had  longf  been  a  faithful 


'  Lestoile,  i.  226,  227,  gives  the  date  of  July  2  to  the  interview  of  Meaux ; 
Cavriana,  in  his  letter  of  Jul}-  o,  makes  it  to  have  been  held  two  da^-s  later, 
ubi  supra,  iv.  703.    See  Guise  to  Mendoza,  July  4,  1587.  De  Croze,  ii.  295. 

-  Mendoza  gave  him  "  danari  assai  scar.*amente  per  intertenere  il  fuoco  ac- 
ceso  gia  in  Francia.  "    Ibid.,  iv.  691. 

^  "  II  buon  duca  di  Guise  e  talmente  indebitato,  che  I'erario  di  Venezia,  del 
Papa  e  il  vostro  insieme  gli  sarebbe  necessario."    Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 


1587. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  COUTRAS. 


427 


pastor,  or  from  commending  itself  to  the  approval  of  the  Roman 
Catholics  who  heard  his  firm  and  Christian  profession  of  his 
faith  and  the  touching  prayer  he  offered  before  his  death.  Xor 
was  this  all.  On  one  occasion  two  hundred  Huguenot  soldiers 
who,  with  their  comrades,  had  been  compelled  to  surrender, 
were  ruthlessly  put  to  the  sword  ;  on  another,  a  nmnber  of  pris- 
oners were  stripped  naked,  after  the  capture  of  the  town  they 
had.  bravely  defended,  that  the  troops  of  Joyeuse  might  have 
the  exquisite  pleasure  of  slashing  their  unprotected  bodies  with 
sword  and  cutlass.  It  is  by  no  means  certain,  in  the  conflict  of 
statements,  that  in  either  ease  there  was  a  direct  breach  of  faith 
on  the  part  of  the  victors  ;  there  is,  unfortunately,  however,  no 
doubt  that  the  massacre  was  in  both  cases  without  excuse  and 
perpetrated  in  cold  blood.  The  incidents  were  not  forgotten  by 
the  Huguenot  soldiers  a  few  months  later  on  the  field  of  Coutras.' 
It  is  true  that  the  duke  justified  his  savage  action,  when  asked 
by  a  Huguenot  somewhat  later  for  his  reasons,  by  referring  to 
the  demands  of  the  times  ;  but  most  readers  will  consider  the 
justification  as  bad  as  the  offence.  "The  object  of  as  many  of 
us  as  want  to  have  our  share  in  the  ruins  of  the  kingdom,"  said 
Joyeuse,  "  is,  above  all  things,  to  be  preached  about  in  the  pulpits 
of  Paris,  and  in  other  notable  quarters  in  which  the  Duke  of 
Guise  manages  his  business.  Xow  this  act,  which  I  acknowledge 
to  you  pained  my  heart,  suits  the  taste  of  our  preachers  more 
than  a  battle  won  with  great  peril  in  which  some  gentleness 
might  have  been  practised."  * 

'  "Cefutun  article  qui  ne  servit  guere  au  due  a,  Coutras."  Recueil  des 
choses  meniorables,  640.  See  the  account  in  the  Memoires  de  la  Ligue,  ii.  72, 
73  ;  Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  iii.  41,  43  :  De  Thou,  vii.  (book  87)4-G.  It  is  Agrippa 
d'Aubignc  (who  always  exhibits  a  soldier's  unwillingness  to  give  credit  to 
stories  of  treachery  in  war)  that  denies  that  there  had  been  given  to  tlie  gar- 
rison of  La  Mothe  Saint  Heray,  any  promise  that  tlieir  lives  would  be  spared, 
and  implies  the  same  with  reference  to  the  band  of  Protestant  soldiers  at  Croix 
Chapeaux.  The  first-named  place  is  not,  as  Browning  erroneously  states  (ii. 
139),  the  same  as  La  Mothe  Achard,  in  Vendee,  but  a  small  town  near  Saint 
Maixent.  The  distance  between  the  two  places  is  fully  seventy  miles.  Croix 
Chapeaux  is  situated  close  to  La  Rochelle.  See  the  map  of  the  neighborhood 
of  La  Rochelle  in  Arcere,  Histoire  de  La  Rochelle. 

-  The  authority  for  this  strange  admission  is  D'Aubigne  (iii.  44),  to  whom  it 
was  made. 


428 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.      Ch.  VII. 


With  such  ignoble  victories  to  boast  of,  Jojeuse  thought  it 
best  to  hurrj  back  to  the  capital,  fearing  lest  too  long  an  absence 
from  the  monarch  over  wliose  mind  he  had  gained  such  ascend- 
ancy might  endanger  the  permanence  of  his  influence.  A  month 
or  two  later,  however,  convinced  that  only  by  some  exploit  could 
he  make  good  his  position  at  court,  he  returned  to  the  south- 
west, resolved,  so  he  said,  to  bring  on  a  general  engagement 
with  the  King  of  Xavarre,  and  either  conquer  or  die.' 

The  Bearnais  had  left  the  walls  of  La  Rochelle  and  advanced 
to  the  southern  bank  of  the  Loire.  The  movement  was  made 
for  the  purpose  of  facilitating  the  escape  of  the  Count 

The  Count  of  o  1 

soissonsand   of  Soissous.    Tliis  noblemau  and  the  Prince  of  Conty 

the  Prince  of 

Conty  join   were  younger  brothers  of  Conde,  but,  unlike  Conde, 

Navarre.  i 

had  been  brought  up  in  the  Roman  Catholic  faith, 
and  had  long  resided  at  court.  Dissatisfied  as  they  now  were 
with  the  course  of  events,  their  cousin,  the  King  of  Navarre, 
had  found  it  easy  to  induce  them  to  abandon  a  side  whose  suc- 
cess would  inevitably  lead  to  the  ruin  of  the  head  of  theii'  house. 
Conty,  the  elder  but  feebler  of  the  two,  contrived  to  make  his 
way  to  Strasbourg,  where  he  was  to  discharge  the  important 
functions  formerly  so  well  discharged  by  Conde  ;  while  Soissons, 
who  wished  to  serve  under  Xavarre's  standard  in  the  approach- 
ing conflict,  had  advanced  as  far  as  Montsoreau,  on  the  Loire. 
Here,  with  the  help  of  Turenne,  he  was  able  to  cross  the  stream 
and  to  bring  a  considerable  body  of  Huguenots  from  the  north 
to  re-enforce  the  King  of  Xavarre's  army. 

It  was  the  purpose  of  the  Huguenot  leader,  after  having 
formed  this  union,  to  turn  his  face  once  more  toward  Gascony, 
x.ivarre  thcrc  to  Strengthen  himself  by  gathering  fresh  troops, 
toward  the  find  then  to  march  boldly  in  the  direction  of  the  great 
Dordogiie.  auxiliary  army  of  Germans  and  Swiss,  whose  advent- 
ures will  soon  have  to  be  conside)-ed  in  detail.  Marshal  Mati- 
gnon,  commanding  for  the  King  of  France  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Bordeaux,  had  correctly  read  the  Huguenot  scheme,  and,  in 
order  to  prevent  its  execution,  entreated  the  Duke  of  Joyeuse 
to  press  rapidly  forward.    He  promised  to  meet  him  on  the 


1  De  Thou,  vii.  (book  87)  8,  9. 


1587. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  COUTRAS. 


429 


banks  of  the  Dordogne  with  an  additional  body  of  four  thou- 
sand men.  The  united  forces  would  greatly  outnumber  the 
army  of  Navarre,  and  efPectually  block  his  return  to  Gascony. 
The  duke,  having  accepted  the  plan,  hastened  forward  to  put  it 
into  execution.  Thus  it  happened  that  while  the  King  of  Xa- 
varre,  after  tarrying  at  La  Roclielle  to  mount  the  two  cannon 
that  constituted  his  entire  artillery,  was  pushing  southward 
through  Archiac  and  Montlieu,  the  Duke  of  Joyeuse,  leaving 
Poitiers  far  in  the  I'ear,  found  himself  but  a  few  miles  east  of 
the  Huguenot  king,  at  Barbezieux  and  Chalais.  The  objective 
point  of  both  generals  was  the  same.  Both  wished  to  arrive 
first  at  Coutras,  a  small  town  between  the  little  rivers  Dronne 
and  Isle,  just  above  their  junction,  through  which  Henry  must 
almost  of  necessity  pass  in  order  to  reach  Bergerac  and  the 
rendezvous  of  the  Gascon  Huguenots. 

Either  because  of  its  more  compact  form  and  smaller  num- 
bers, or  because  of  the  superior  energy  and  sagacity  of  its 
leader,  the  Protestant  army  outstripped  its  rival,  and 

He  takes  l  i 

position  at  late  on  the  afternoon  of  the  nineteenth  of  October 
reached  the  northern  bank  of  the  Dronne.  Before 
night  had  set  in,  all  Henry's  troops,  with  the  exception  of  a 
part  of  his  infantry,  had  safely  crossed,  and  were  quartered  in 
the  town.  Meanwhile  Joyeuse  had  leisurely  crossed  the  river 
higher  up,  and  stopped  for  tlie  night  at  La  lioche  Chalais,  in 
profound  ignorance  that  Xavarre  had  placed  himself  in  front 
of  him  with  the  intention  of  disputing  his  advance.  Indeed, 
the  duke,  somewhat  to  the  surprise  of  his  own  officers,  openly 
expressed  his  contempt  for  Xavarre  and  Conde,  whose  forces 
he  expected  to  swallow  up  in  tlie  first  encounter.  It  was,  there- 
fore, with  peculiar  satisfaction  that,  having  surj^rised  a  body  of 
four  Huguenot  guards,  he  received  from  one  of  the  men,  who 
was  taken  alive,  the  following  reply  to  his  inquiries :  "  The  King 
of  Navarre  is  so  determined  to  fight  that  he  will  await  an  en- 
gagement with  firm  foot ;  and  he  is  not  far  distant  now." 
"  Give  me  your  hand,"  said  the  duke  to  the  Huguenot  soldier. 
"  You  have  brought  me  such  welcome  tidings  that  I  cannot 
thank  you  sufficiently  save  by  giving  you  your  liberty,  as  I  now 
do."    Whereupon  he  dismissed  him,  but  not  before  he  had 


430         THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.        Cu.  VII. 


made  him  sit  down  and  eat  with  him,  and  had  given  him  a 
small  sum  of  money.' 

That  night  the  Huguenots  slept  undisturbed  in  Coutras,  or  en- 
camped about  it ;  wliile  the  Duke  of  Jojeuse,  apparently  fear- 
ing lest  the  heretics  might  steal  away  before  affording  him  a 
chance  to  attack  them,  set  his  army  in  motion  at  eleven  o'clock, 
having  despatched  his  cavalry  an  hour  earlier.  The  distance 
to  be  traversed  was  about  twelve  miles ;  the  darkness  prevented 
the  column  from  advancing  except  by  the  highway,  and  the 
road  was  muddy.  It  was  daybreak  before  the  Roman  Catholic 
troops  appeared  before  Coutras,  worn  with  a  night  march  up- 
on which  they  had  been  harassed  by  the  small  body  of  light 
horse  w'hich  Xavarre  had  thrown  forward  about  five  miles,  to 
the  hamlet  of  Les  Pointures,  to  skirmish  and  fall  back  slowly 
upon  the  main  force. 

a\iter  rejecting  the  spot  which  Turenne  at  first  selected 
for  the  engagement,  Ileni-y  had  assumed  another  somewhat 
nearer  Coutras.  Xo  position  could  have  been  more  happily 
chosen.  Across  a  plain  that  might  measure  six  or  seven  hun- 
The  Hiigue-  ^^'^'-^  paccs  in  breadth  the  Huguenot  line  was  drawn 
not  line.  ^lie  f orm  of  a  crescent,  the  centre  somewhat  in  ad- 

vance of  the  two  wings.  On  the  left  was  the  Dronne  and  a 
small  wood  marking  the  course  of  a  tributary  brook,  the  Pal- 
lard.  On  the  right  were  the  park  and  warren  of  a  stately  cas- 
tle built  by  Marshal  Lautrec,  that  brave  but  unfortunate  general 
of  Francis  the  First  who  had  lost  his  life  before  Kaples  almost 
sixty  years  before.  Kavarre  himself  held  the  centre  wdtli  a 
body  of  three  hundred  men-at-arms,  with  Conde  on  his  right 
and  Soissons  on  his  left  in  command  of  squadrons  of  nearly 
equal  size.  Beyond  Conde  was  the  Gascon  cavalry  under  Tu- 
renne and  the  light  horse  of  Tremouille.  The  infantry  was 
posted  chiefly  on  the  wings;  but  in  every  gap  between  the 
different  squadrons  of  horse  stood  a  square  of  twenty-five  ar- 
quebusiers,  with  strict  orders  on  no  account  to  fire  until  the 
enemy  should  come  within  twenty  paces  of  them.    The  whole 


'  I  take  this  incident  from  Cavriana's  long  and  interesting  letter  of  Novem- 
ber 1,  1587,  in  Negociations  avec  la  Toscane,  iv.  725,  726. 


1587. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  COUTRAS. 


431 


Huguenot  aimj  might  number  about  five  thousand  five  hun- 
dred men.  The  army  of  the  Duke  of  Joyeuse  was  seven  thou- 
sand strong.  Here,  too,  the  infantry  occupied  the  wings,  while 
opposite  to  the  three  Bourbon  princes  were  marshalled  the 
twelve  hundred  lancers  of  the  duke  himself  and  the  five  hun- 
dred men-at-arms  of  Montigny — together  constituting  the  flower 
of  the  Koman  Catholic  nobles.  jS^ever,  said  an  eye-witness,  had 
there  been  seen  in  France  a  body  so  resplendent  with  orna- 
ments of  gold  and  glittering  tinsel.  Lavardin's  four  hundred 
light  horse  stood  next,  opposite  to  Turenne's  position. 

The  action  began  with  the  artillery.  Strange  to  say,  the  pieces 
of  the  Huguenots,  so  contemptible  in  number,  did  great  execu- 
tion, mowing;  down  whole  lines  of  bedizened  kiiis^hts, 

BattleofCou-       ,  .■,       ,  ®  „    ,  i  i, 

tras,  October  wliile  the  scven  cannon  or  the  enemy  were  so  badlv 

20,  1587.  -IT  1  -1  1 

situated  that  upon  the  1  rotestant  side  scarcely  a  man 
was  struck.  Then  it  was  that,  unable  to  keep  his  troops  steady 
under  the  murderous  fire,  Joyeuse  gave  Lavardin  permission 
to  charge.  The  attack  was  successful.  Turenne's  Gascon  cav- 
alry were  broken  in  a  moment,  and  the  victorious  Roman 
Catholics  pursued  their  course  unchecked  even  into  the  very 
streets  of  Coutras.  The  infantry  on  their  left  was  not  so  fort- 
unate in  an  assault  upon  the  regiments  of  Protestant  foot 
posted  in  the  castle's  grounds,  and  was  easily  repulsed.  This 
was,  however,  but  the  prelude  of  the  main  action.  The  Gas- 
cons, so  far  as  they  could  be  rallied,  and  the  troopers  of  Tre- 
mouille  took  position  behind  Conde.  What  the  day  would  ac- 
complish was  evidently  going  to  depend  upon  the  reception  which 
the  Bourbon  princes  should  give  to  Joyeuse  and  Montigny. 

As  the  signal  was  sounded  for  the  Roman  Catholic  lancers  to 
advance,  the  King  of  Navarre  called  upon  the  Huguenot  minis- 
ters who  accompanied  his  army — Gabriel  d' Amours,  his  own 
favorite  preacher,  and  the  not  less  distinguished  La  Roche 
Chandieu — to  offer  up  a  prayer  for  the  blessing  of  Heaven 
„  ^ . ,        upon  the  royal  cause.    D' Amours  stood  near  the 

Gabriel  _J ,  , 

d' Amours  of-  Bcamais.  At  the  sound  of  his  voice,  raised  in  f  er- 
rors prayer.  ,  .  ' 

vent  petition  according  to  the  simple  fashion  of  the 

Church  of  Geneva,  every  soldier  prostrated  himself  with  as 

much  devotion  as  if  he  had  been  worshipping  in  the  quiet  of 


1^ 


432 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.       Cu.  VII. 


his  own  home,  or  with  tlie  company  of  his  fellow  Protestants  in 
the  crowded  "temple,"  and  not  upon  the  open  field  and  in  full 
view  of  the  scoffing  enemies  of  his  faith.  The  trooper  had 
leaped  from  the  saddle  and,  with  bridle  in  hand,  knelt  side  by 
side  with  the  arquebusier.  To  the  noblemen  in  the  opposed 
ranks,  men  who,  for  the  most  part,  had  known  little  of  Hugue- 
not prayer  or  of  Huguenot  warfare,  the  spectacle  was  novel, 
and  admitted  but  of  one  explanation  :  it  must  be  that  the  Prot- 
estants, overcome  with  fi-ight,  were  preparing  for  craven  sub- 
mission or  for  flight.  "  Par  la  mort  Dieu  !  "  cried  some  of  the 
knights  about  Joyeuse.  "  The  cowards  are  trembling  !  They 
are  making  their  confession  !  "  "  Monsieur,"  interposed  one  of 
their  own  number  who  had  enjoyed  better  opportunities  for  be- 
coming acquainted  with  the  characteristics  of  the  foe,  address- 
ing his  warning  to  the  Duke  of  Joyeuse,  "  Monsieur,  when  the 
Huguenots  act  after  that  fashion,  they  are  prepared  to  fight 
hard."  The  assertion  was  fully  borne  out  by  the  sequel,  and 
the  survivors  of  Coutras,  flying  to  other  parts  of  France,  car- 
ried with  them  wonderful  stories  of  the  magical  effect  pro- 
duced by  Gabriel  d'Amours'  potent  petitions.  Years  after- 
ward, when  Henry  of  Xavarre  was  seated  upon  the  throne  of 
France,  and  when  many  of  those  who  had  fought  against  him 
at  Coutras  were  arrayed  on  his  side  in  opposition  to  the  League, 
some  of  the  loyal  Roman  Catholics  desired  to  experience  for 
themselves  the  advantage  of  the  charm  employed  to  their  detri- 
ment on  the  banks  of  the  Dronne.  "Sire,"  said  Montigny  to 
Henry  the  Fourth  on  the  eve  of  the  battle  of  Ivry,  "  permit  us 
to  have  at  the  head  of  your  army  to-morrow  that  minister  who 
cast  a  spell  of  enchantment  over  us  on  the  day  of  Coutras,  and 
over  the  army  of  the  League  at  Arques.  We  desire  to  hear 
his  prayer  when  in  sight  of  the  enemy." ' 


'  "Sire,  aions  demain  a  vostre  teste  ce  Ministre  qui  nous  cliarma  a  la  journee 
de  Coutras,  et  I'armee  de  la  Ligue  a  Arques.  Nous  desirons  d'ouir  sa  priere 
a  la  veue  des  ennemis."  Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  iii.  229  (liv.  iii.,  c.  v.).  Von 
Polenz,  iv.  667,  has  noticed  this  interesting  little  incident,  but,  strangely 
enough,  has  misunderstood  the  word  "cliarma,"  which  he  incorrectly  renders 
by  "erfreute,"  instead  of  "  bezauberte."    It  is  probable  that  Montigny,  in 


1587. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  COUTRAS. 


433 


Their  devotions  ended,  the  Ilnguenot  men-at-ai-ms  threw 
themselves  upon  their  horses,  ready  to  meet  the  fierce  onslaught 
AHu'menot  opposcd  battalioH.    Then  from  many  throats, 

battle-psalm,  fi-Qm  the  tliroat  of  one  man,  rose  the  solemn  chant 
of  one  of  the  grandest  of  exultant  hymns— a  part  of  Clement 
Marot's  quaint  version  of  the  one  hundred  and  eighteenth 
Psalm:' 

"La  voici  I'litiureuse  journee 

Que  Dieu  a  faite  a  plein  desir  ; 
Par  nous  soit  joye  demenee, 
Et  preuous  eu  elle  plaisir. 

"  O  Dieu  Eternel,  je  te  prie, 

Je  te  prie,  ton  Roi  maintien  : 
O  Dieu,  je  te  prie  et  reprie, 
Sauve  ton  Roi,  et  I'eutretien." 

With  the  words  still  upon  their  lips,  of  gratitude  that  they 
had  at  last  been  permitted  to  meet  their  enemies  in  a  free  and 
open  encounter,  and  of  prayer  for  a  prosperous  issue,  the  Hu- 
guenots met  the  charge  of  the  Duke  of  Joyeuse. 

The  eager  lancers,  well  mounted  and  resplendent  in  their  cost- 
ly armor,  had  dashed  madly  forward,  as  if  to  take  part  in  some 
holiday  parade.  Is  ever  had  there  been  a  pleasanter  sight.  The 
ground  seemed  positively  shaded  by  the  profusion  of  banners 
and  streamers  with  which  they  and  their  weapons  were  adorned. 
But  the  intervening  space  was  considerable.  Before  long  the 
break-neck  ride  introduced  confusion  in  the  ranks  ;  here  a  horse- 
man was  a  length  ahead  of  his  companions,  there  one  lagged  as 
much  behind.  The  first  ardor  diminished  before  the  foot  of 
the  gentle  elevation  occupied  by  Kavarre  was  reached,  and  as 
the  horses  began  the  ascent  they  fell  from  a  gallop  into  a  brisk 
trot.  To  add  to  the  disorder,  the  duke's  troops  now  for  the  first 
time  perceived  that  they  were  opposed,  not  by  a  single  corps, 
but  by  the  three  distinct  detachments  under  the  command  of 
the  three  Bourbons,  and  a  portion  of  the  right  and  left  diverged 


command  of  the  gendarmes  on  Joyeuse's  left,  was  as  little  "  delighted  "  with 
D'  Amours'  performance  at  Coutras  as  were  the  partisans  of  the  League,  two 
years  later,  at  Arques. 
'  Verses  24  and  25. 

Vol.  I.— 28 


434 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OP  NAVARRE.      Ch.  VIL 


in  the  direction  of  Soissons  and  Conde.  A  wide  gap  was  thus 
created  on  either  side  of  Joyeuse,  which  the  Huguenots  were 
not  slow  in  tiu-ning  to  good  account,  and,  a  few  minutes  later, 
attacked  the  combatants  in  flank. 

Meantime  Kavarre's  arquebusiers  restrained  their  impatience 
until  the  duke's  lancers  were  within  the  prescribed  distance, 

then  fired  with  fatal  precision,  and  sent  many  a  rider  v 
death  of  reeling  from  his  seat.  Just  then  the  Huguenot  men- 
joyeuse.  at-arms,  who  had  been  well  held  in  hand,  advanced, 
quickening  their  pace  as  they  came,  and  discharging  with  mur- 
derous effect  their  pistols  loaded  with  pieces  of  steel  and  other 
destructive  material.  The  struggle  was  soon  decided.  The 
Huguenots  bore  down  with  terrific  force  ;  the  Roman  Catholics, 
out  of  breath  from  their  long  run,  could  scarcely  deliver  with 
their  lances  a  thrust  sufficiently  vigorous  to  do  execution.  En- 
tangled by  the  very  excess  of  the  silken  pennons  they  carried, 
with  scant  room  to  use  their  weapons,  they  fought  bravely  but 
hopelessly,  and  fell  an  easy  prey  to  their  enemies.  The  Duke 
of  Joyeuse  himself,  discovering  the  extent  of  the  disaster  in 
which  he  had  involved  his  arm}',  after  vainly  iujploringa  friend 
to  kill  him,'  found  death  at  the  hands  of  a  Huguenot,  who  dis- 
dained the  ransom  of  one  hundred  thousand  crowns  he  offered, 
and  remembered  only  the  butchery  the  duke  had  permitted,  a  few 
months  since,  at  La  Mothe  Saint  Heray.  On  all  sides  there  were 
prodigies  of  valor.  Soissons  fought  as  bravely  as  if  he  were  a 
born  Huguenot,  and  had  been  bred  to  no  other  profession  than 
that  of  arms.  Conde  was  not  less  determined,  despite  his  being 
so  unfortunate  as  to  be  unhorsed  by  Saint  Luc,  who  then  judi- 
ciously embraced  the  opportunity  to  surrender  himself  a  prisoner 
to  the  prostrate  prince.  But  of  all  the  combatants  the  King  of 
jS^avarre  was  undoubtedly  entitled,  on  this  occasion,  to  bear  off 
the  palm  for  superior  prowess.    His  brave  speeches  before  and 

during  the  conflict  were  repeated  from  mouth  to 

Aavarres  o  ^ 

bravery.  mouth.  To  Coudc  aud  Soissons  he  remarked,  as  the 
action  was  about  to  begin  :  "  I  shall  say  nothing  to  you  but  that 
you  are  of  the  House  of  Bourbon,  and  I  shall  show  you  that  I 


'  Letter  of  Cavriana,  November  1,  1587,  Negociations  avec  la  Toscane,  iv.  727. 


1587. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  COUTRAS. 


435 


am  your  elder  ; to  which  Conde  aud  Soissons  replied :  "  And 
we  shall  show  you  that  we  are  your  juniors."  And  when  about 
to  plunge  into  the  thickest  of  the  fight,  My  companions,"  he 
exclaimed,  "  the  glory  of  God,  honor,  and  life  are  at  stake. 
Whether  to  save  ourselves  or  to  conquer,  the  way  lies  before  ns. 
Forward  in  the  name  of  God,  for  whom  we  are  fighting  !  "  Beset 
by  Roman  Catholic  knights,  Henry  contended  with  several  single- 
handed,  and  when  he  had  shot  one  with  his  pistol,  closed  in  with 
another,  at  the  same  time  crying  out,  "  Yield  thee,  Philistine  !  " ' 

It  was  nine  o'clock  when  the  battle  began ;  within  an  hour 
the  enemy  were  routed.  The  pursuit  lasted  for  three  hours, 
the  fugitives  being  followed  almost  to  the  very  entrance  of 
Chalais.  The  Huguenot  horse  scoured  the  plain  and  cut  to 
pieces,  with  little  show  of  mercy,  the  unfortunate  regiments  of 
foot  that  had  incurred  their  special  enmity  through  participa- 
tion in  the  butchery  of  the  Protestants  at  La  Mothe  Saint  lleray 
and  Croix  Chapeaux. 

As  for  [Xavarre  and  his  cousins,  they  soon  desisted  from  fol- 
lowing the  retreating  foe.  Even  before  the  conflict  was  fully 
over,  the  Bearnais  had  halted  for  a  moment  beneath  a  tree  on 
the  battle-ground,  and  had  asked  that  a  prayer  of 
and  p'iSm    thauksgiving  be  offered  to  God  for  His  mercy.  Xow 

after  battle.        ,  ,  n      i       i  •  i  i 

that  the  enemy  were  routed,  tlie  kmg  returned  to  the 
scene  of  the  beginning  of  the  engagement,  and  bade  the  same 
Huguenot  minister — Gabriel  d' Amours — conduct  a  more  delib- 
erate service  of  praise,  who  so  short  a  time  before  had  raised  a 
supplication  to  Heaven  for  assistance,  and  who,  sword  in  hand, 
had  been  among  the  most  active  of  the  combatants.  Navarre 
himself  designated  the  psalm  to  be  sung  on  this  joyful  occasion.' 

'  The  addresses  to  Conde  and  Soissons  and  to  the  captains  and  soldiers,  as 
given  by  Bap.  Legrain  in  his  "  Decade  contenant  la  vie  et  gestes  de  Henry  le 
Grand"  (Paris,  1614),  and  reproduced  in  tlie  Lettres  missives,  ii.  308,  differ 
altogether  from  the  speeches  given  in  the  text,  but  are,  to  say  the  least,  of 
suspicious  autlienticity. 

^  "N'estoy-je  pas  pres  de  vous  lorsque  vous  poursuiviez  vos  enneniis,  que 
vous  me  fictes  faire  la  premiere  action  de  grace  soubs  ung  arbre,  et,  au  retour 
de  la  pourf  uite,  la  secoude  au  champs  de  batailles  entre  les  niortz,  que  vous 
choisistes  le  ps.  '  Or  peut  bien  dire  Israel  mainteuant,'  etc."  Gabriel  d'Amours 
to  Henry  IV.,  June  20,  1593,  ubi  infra,  i.  281. 


436  THE  HUGUENOTS  ASH  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.      Ch.  VH. 


Right  heartily  did  tlie  Huguenot  soldiers,  dust-begrimed  and 
worn  with  the  fierce  encounter,  sing  in  Beza's  translation  the 
sacred  poem  so  appropriate  to  their  own  case : 

"  If  it  had  not  beeu  the  Lord  who  was  on  our  side, 

Now  may  Israel  say  : 
If  it  had  not  been  the  Lord  who  was  on  our  side, 

When  men  rose  up  against  us  : 
Then  they  had  swallowed  us  up  quick. "' 

The  losses  of  the  two  sides  were  out  of  all  proportion.  The 
lioman  Catholic  army  left  upon  the  field  four  hundred  noble- 
men, many  of  them  of  high  rank,  including  their  general  and 
his  brother,  A[.  de  Saint  Sauveur,  and  two  or  three  thousand 
foot  soldiers.  So  considerable  a  number  of  nobles  had  not  been 
cut  off  in  three  of  the  most  bloody  battles  of  the  century  taken 
together.  Tlie  King  of  Xavarre,  on  the  other  hand,  mourned 
the  loss  of  but  twenty -five  men  in  all.' 

It  was  the  first  time,  in  a  warfare  extending  over  a  quarter 
of  a  century,  that  the  Huguenots  had  gained  a  pitched  battle. 
The  fiist  Hitherto  their  enemies  had  been  successful  in  every 
pikie^M^tbe  Considerable  engagement ;  but  the  Huguenots  had 
Huguenots,  coutrived  to  neutralize  the  effects  of  defeat  at  Dreux, 
at  Jarnac,  and  at  Moncontour,  by  that  practical  sagacity  which 
often  avails  quite  as  much  as  the  most  brilliant  generalship  in 

'  The  best  account  of  the  battle  of  Coutras  is  unquestionably  that  of  Agrippa 
d'Aubigne,  in  his  Histoire  uuiverselle,  iii.  48-58  (book  iiL,  cs.  xiii.,  xiv  ). 
D'Aubigne,  who  was  one  of  Navarre's  squires,  took  place  among  the  ' '  mare- 
cliaus  de  camp  "  previously  to  the  battle,  and  was  intrusted  with  the  honor- 
able commission  of  marking  out  the  field.  After  receiving  a  sword  wound  in 
the  action,  he  led  ten  gentlemen  in  pursuit  of  the  fugitives  to  the  distance  of 
three  leagues,  and  prevented  the  troops  of  Joyeuse  from  rallying.  Memoires 
de  D'Aubigne,  499.  Other  valuable  accounts  are  those  given  in  the  Memoires  de 
la  Ligue,  ii.  262—270  ;  in  Cimber  et  Danjou,  Archives  carieuses,  xi.  257-26-5, 
and,  in  great  part  verbatim,  in  Recueil  des  choses  m^^morables,  641-645  ;  Me- 
moires de  Sully,  c.  23  (i.  194,  etc.)  -,  De  Thou,  vii.  (book  87)  10,  etc.  ;  Davila, 
320,  etc.  ;  Lestoile,  i.  232  ;  Perefixe.  Histoire  de  Henry  le  Grand,  66,  etc.  ; 
the  letter  of  Cavriana  of  November  1,  1587,  ubi  supra,  iv.  725-781  ;  the  re- 
markable letter  of  Gabriel  d'Amours.  of  June  20,  1593,  first  published  in  the 
Bulletin  de  la  Societe  de  Thistoire  du  Protestantisme  fran9ais,  i.  280-285.  On 
D'Amours  consult  Haag,  La  France  protestante,  i.  175-179.  Tlie  description 
of  the  battle  in  the  Due  d'Aumale's  Histoire  des  princes  de  Conde,  ii.  163,  etc., 
based  on  Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  is  admirably  clear  and  intelligible. 


1587. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  COUTRAS. 


harvesting  the  fruits  of  military  campaigns.  It  remained  to  be 
seen  wliether  Henry  of  Navarre  would  prove  equal  to  the  task 
of  securing  as  marked  advantages  from  "  the  most  signal  victory 
gained  in  France  for  the  defence  of  the  Reformed  religion  "  as 
Gaspard  de  Coligny  had  wrung  from  iiniform  defeat — in  short, 
whether  the  conqueror  of  Coutras  would  show  to  the  world  a 
march  to  meet  his  German  allies  that  would  eclipse  the  glory  of 
the  raid  through  one-half  of  France  by  means  of  which  the  ad- 
miral, on  the  morrow  of  his  defeat  at  Moncontour,  carried  ter- 
ror to  the  royal  court  and  made  Paris  itself  tremble  at  the 
prospect  of  seeing  the  heretic  at  the  gates  of  the  capital. 

There  was  no  doubt  of  the  surprise  and  sorrow  with  which 
the  intelligence  of  the  loss  of  the  flower  of  the  royalist  nobles 
was  received  at  court.  Henry  of  Valois,  however  little  he  re- 
gretted in  his  heart  the  loss  of  a  favoi'ite  whom  he  had  lately 
learned  to  distrust  as  a  secret  partisan  of  the  League,  was  con- 
spicuous as  a  mourner.  He  gave  to  the  dead  Duke  of  Joyeuse 
such  a  pompous  burial  as  was  customary  only  in  the  case  of 
princes  of  the  blood — then  turned  and  conferred  upon  the  Duke 
of  Epernon  the  office  of  admiral  and  the  government  of  Nor- 
mandy, the  two  most  important  trusts  the  late  favorite  had 
held.'  As  for  the  Cardinal  of  Bourbon,  he  disgusted  even  his 
majesty  by  volunteering  the  expression  of  a  characteristic  wish, 
that  it  had  been  his  nephew  that  had  lost  his  life  in  place  of 
Joyeuse.^ 

It  was  for  the  purpose  of  preventing  Henry  of  Navarre  from 
obtaining  in  Gascony  those  re-enforcements  with  which  he 
should  march  to  the  Loire  and  effect  a  junction  with  the  Ger- 
The  fruits  of  army,  that  Joyeuse  had  been  despatched  with 

victory  lost.  g^g}j  prcssing  orders  on  the  expedition  to  which  he 
owed  his  death.  Now  that  Joyeuse  had  been  killed  and  his 
army  routed,  it  was  to  be  expected  that  the  Bearnais  would 
pursue  with  vigor  and  alacrity  the  plan  previously  laid  down. 
Instead  of  this,  no  sooner  was  the  battle  well  over  than  he  hur- 
ried off  to  Pau,  to  lay  the  ensigns  taken  from  the  enemy  at  the 
feet  of  his  mistress,  Corisande  d'Andouins,  Countess  of  Gram- 


'  Cayet,  Chronologie  novenaire,  42. 


■  Lestoile,  i.  2;]'2. 


438  THE  HUGUENOTS  AXD  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.      Cu.  VII. 


raont.  Such  were  the  strange  inconsistencies  in  the  character 
of  this  remarkable  prince,  that  tlie  same  man  who  one  day  was 
imperilling  his  life  at  the  head  of  a  religious  party,  in  arms  for 
the  defence  of  what  it  deemed  the  truth,  the  same  man  who 
craved  the  public  recognition  of  the  sovereignty  of  the  God  of 
battles  before  and  after  the  bloody  conflict,  was  seen,  a  few  days 
after,  bringing  the  trophies  of  victory  to  gratify  the  vanity  of 
a  woman  whom  he  loved  adulterously. 

"While  there  can  be  no  question  as  to  the  flagrant  indecency 
of  his  action,  views  widely  divergent  have  been  entertained  re- 
specting the  military  expediency  of  the  course  which  the  King 
of  Xavarre  adopted  on  this  occasion. 

The  "  Army  of  the  Reiters  "  Avas  known  to  be  on  its  way.  It 
would  require  the  best  guidance  and  all  the  help  the  Hugue- 
nots of  France  could  afFord,  to  conduct  the  foreign  troops  across 
the  wide  intervening  spaces.  The  inhabitants  of  the  regions 
to  be  traversed  were,  almost  to  a  man,  Roman  Catholics.  The 
rivers  were  numerous,  and  some  of  them  deep.  The  bridges 
were  all  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  Above  all,  should  the  rei- 
ters  conclude  to  take  the  shortest  path  from  Germany  to  Gas- 
cony,  they  must  of  necessity  come  within  easy  striking  distance 
of  Paris. 

Why  did  not  Henry  of  Xavarre  instantly  press  forward  to 
prevent  the  occurrence  of  such  a  calamity  as  might  well  befall 
an  army  freshly  recruited,  in  a  strange  land  of  whose  geography 
.       it  was  scarcelv  less  ignorant  than  of  the  language  of 

Is  avarre  s  ^  o  o 

justification.  people  ?  It  is  by  no  means  easy  to  attain  certain- 
ty upon  this  point.  On  the  one  hand,  the  king  himself  and  such 
a  trusty  and  conscientious  a  servant  of  his  as  Duplessis  Mornay 
assert  that  it  was  impracticable  for  the  victor  of  Coutras  to  do 
otherwise  than  as  he  did.  To  use  their  own  expression,  the 
troops  of  Xavarre  had  been  "  borrowed  "  for  a  few  days  only. 
They  had  left  home  with  little  provision  for  a  longer  absence, 
and  must  be  allowed  time  to  refit  themselves.  They  were  now, 
moreover,  encumbered  by  the  very  weight  of  the  rich  booty 
which  they  had  taken,  and  which  they  must  deposit  in  their 
houses  before  entering  upon  a  long  and  perilous  march.  Besides, 
where  and  how  were  they  to  meet  and  join  their  German  allies, 


15S7. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  COUTRAS. 


439 


who,  in  place  of  coming  toward  the  Upper  Loire,  had,  it  was 
now  known,  contrary  to  the  understanding  whicli  they  had  with 
them,  deflected  their  course  toward  Beance  and  Chartres — with 
what  object  in  view  it  was  difficult  to  surmise.  How  could 
either  Henry  of  Is  avarre  reach  them  or  they  reach  Henry  of 
Xavarre,  with  the  bridges  and  fords  all  in  the  enemy's  hands  ? 
In  fact,  should  the  Huguenots  of  the  south  venture  to  start  out 
in  quest  of  the  auxiliary  army  respecting  whose  plans  since  they 
left  the  German  borders  they  had  been  left  in  complete  igno- 
rance, it  was  less  likely  that  they  would  succeed  in  their  en- 
deavor than  that  they  would,  before  reaching  them,  be  over- 
whelmed by  the  army  of  the  King  of  France.  "  Consider," 
wrote  Duplessis  Mornay,  soon  after  the  battle  of  Coutras,  "  that 
the  king  will  have  the  option  of  bringing  on  a  combat  with 
whichever  army  he  may  please,  and  that  his  preference  will 
be  to  attack  us  rather  than  the  reiters.  Hence,  we  must  act 
cautiously  ;  hence,  too,  it  is  very  reasonable  that  for  every  two 
steps  we  take  in  the  direction  of  our  foreign  army,  it  shall  take 
three  steps  toward  us."  ' 

Unfortunately  the  plausible  excuses  of  the  King  of  Navarre, 
and  of  his  conscientious  but  too  partial  advocate,  are  more  than 
counterbalanced  by  the  candid  admissions  of  other  followers  of 
the  Huguenot  cai;se  equally  devoted  and  enjoying  scarcely  in- 
ferior opportunities  for  the  formation  of  a  correct  judgment. 
Sully  and  Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  however  much  they  may  differ 
on  other  points,  agree  in  deploring  the  signal  mistake  which  in 
a  brief  week  caused  all  the  expected  fruits  of  a  great  and  sig- 
nal victory  to  vanish  into  thin  air.    Both  unite  in  ascribing 


'  "  Au  moins  auront  ils  bien  apperceu  que  nous  n'espargnons  rien  pour  aller 
a  eulx."  Duplessis  Mornay  to  Morlas,  November,  1587,  Memoires  de  Duples- 
sis Mornay,  iv.  34.  See,  also,  "  Memoire  envoye  par  le  roy  de  Navarre  en 
I'armee  estrangere  qui  le  debvoit  venir  joindre  au  commencement  de  Novembre, 
1587,  faict  par  M.  Duplessis,"  ibid.,  iv.  89-43  ;  and  "  Instruction  au  sieur  de 
Monglat,  retournant  de  la  part  du  roi  de  Navarre  vers  I'armee  estrangere," 
ibid.,  iv.  43-47.  In  the  latter,  p.  44,  Henry  expresses  bis  surprise  at  seeing 
tbe  reiters  "  descendre  vers  le  bas,  ou  il  cognoissoit,  en  la  saison  d'hyver,  et 
veu  la  grossesse  de  la  riviere,  une  impossibilite  de  parvenir  a  eulx.''  Compare, 
also,  "  Instruction  a  M.  des  Reaux,  allant  de  la  part  du  roy  de  Navarre  vers 
MM.  des  cantons  de  Suisse,"  iv.  47-54. 


4-iO  THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.      Cu.  VIL 


Henry's  failure  to  marcli  in  all  haste  to  extend  a  helping  hand 
to  the  reiters  on  the  banks  of  the  Loire,  or,  if  that  was  impossi- 
ble, at  least  to  strengthen  the  Protestant  cause  by  the  capture 
of  all  the  important  towns  of  Poitou  and  Saintonge,  to  the  un- 
fortunate sacrifice  of  duty  at  the  altar  of  vanity  or  love.'  And, 
if  this  testimony  of  sagacious  captains  be  deemed  insufficient, 
we  have  the  direct  statements  of  one  of  the  chief  actors  in  the 
drama  of  Coutras — no  other  than  the  brave  Huguenot  minister, 
Gabriel  d'Amours— to  the  effect  that,  even  immediately  after 
the  battle,  the  King  of  Xavarre  had  not  been  left  without 
faithful  warnino;  against  the  suicidal  course  which  he  seemed 
resolved  to  take.  "  The  next  day,  in  the  morning,"  writes  this 
frankest  of  servants  to  his  royal  master,  "  did  not  Monsieur 
de  Cliandieu  and  I  go  and  entreat  your  majesty  to  pursue 
your  victory  and  to  make  the  most  of  it,  as  being  the  person 
who  had  had  this  honor  from  God  to  be  elected  Protector  of 
the  Churches  in  so  notable  an  assembly  as  that  of  Montauban  ? 
Did  we  not  tell  you  that  if  you  should  do  otherwise,  the  victory 
which  God  had  given  you  would  prove  to  be  of  no  account  in 
future  ?  You  broke  up  your  army,  you  went  into  Bearn  ;  you 
understand  me  well." " 

Meanwhile  the  great  auxiliary  army,  from  which  the  Hugue- 
nots anticipated  so  great  advantage,  and  of  whose  advent  their 
enemies  stood  in  undisguised  fear,  had  for  some  weeks 

Queen  Eliza-  ^  i         r\  th  •     i      i  c 

beth  renders  been  actually  upon  tlie  marcli.  Cjueen  iLlizabetli  or 
England,  having  been  persuaded  to  lend  the  Hugiie- 
nots  the  material  support  of  which  they  stood  in  need,  had 
advanced  at  Frankfort  a  sum  of  over  thirty  thousand  pounds 
sterling  to  be  expended  in  the  levy  of  German  soldiers.^ 


'  Sulh',  c.  24  ;  Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  iii.  58,  59. 

"  ''  Le  lendemain  au  matin  Monsr.  de  Chandieu  et  moy  ii'allasmes-nous 
pas  supplier  V.  M.  de  pour(,"uivre  votre  victoire  et  la  faire  valoir  comme  celuy 
qui  avoit  eu  cest  honneur  de  Dieu  d'avoir  este  esleu  protecteur  des  Eglises  en 
uue  assemblee  si  notable  qu'estoit  celle  de  Montauban  y  .  Que  si  vous  faisies 
aultrement,  la  victoire  que  Dieu  vous  avoit  dounee  seroit  comme  de  nul  effect 
a  I'advenir  y  Vous  rompistes  vostre  armee,  vous  alastes  en  Beam  ;  vous 
m'entendez  bien."    Gabriel  d'Amours  to  Henry  IV.,  June  20,  1593. 

^  "  Memoire  des  sommes  de  deniers  que  la  Rej'ue  d'Angleterre  a  prestez  ou 
desboursez  pour  le  Roy  Treschrestien,"  submitted  to  tlie  Council  of  Henry 


1587. 


THE  ARMY  OF  THE  RBITERS. 


441 


Eight  thousand  reiters,  or  German  horse,  and  twenty  thou- 
sand Swiss  foot  soldiers '  constituted  a  force  whicli,  added  to 
The  Army  of  ^^^^  French  troops  at  the  disposal  of  Henry  of  Xa- 
the  reiters.  yarre,  would  perhaps  enable  the  Huguenots  to  dictate 
terms  of  peace. 

The  old  ally  of  the  French  Protestants,  Duke  John  Casimir, 
had  engaged  either  to  lead  the  expedition  in  person  or  to 
furnish  it  with  a  competent  head.    In  a  document  of 

John   Cas-  iiin  •      i  it  t  • 

imir'scom-  great  length  he  had  promised  never  to  lay  down  his 
arms  until  the  Huguenots  should  have  secured  all  the 
rights  for  which  they  were  contending — the  repeal  of  the  entire 
body  of  unfriendly  legislation  enacted  since  the  death  of  Henry 
the  Second,  complete  equality  of  Protestants  and  Roman  Cath- 
olics in  the  sight  of  the  law,  free  admission  to  all  offices,  the 
chambres  mi-parties,"  three  places  of  security  in  every  province ; 
in  short,  all  that  the  most  satiguine  adherent  of  the  Reformed 
Church  could  desire.  At  the  same  time  the  rights  of  Navarre 
as  the  legitimate  heir  to  the  crown  of  France  were  not  forgotten.^ 

IV.,  May  21,  1599,  O.  S.  The  first  item  is:  "An.  1587.  Desbourse  paries 
mains  du  Seignieur  Horace  Pallavicini  pour  la  levee  de  I'armee  Allemande, 
conduicte  par  le  Baron  d'D'aunau  pour  laquelle  somme  il  y  a  obligation  des 
Ambassadeurs  du  Roy  datee  a  Francfort,  Lib.  Sterl.  30,468  ;  Scud.  Franc. 
101,560."  Edmund  Sawyer,  Memorials  of  Affairs  of  State  (London,  1735), 
i.  29. 

'  These  are  De  Thou's  figures,  vii.  17  (book  87)  ;  but  otlier  accounts  differ 
widely.  Guise,  in  a  letter  to  the  king,  August  27,  1587,  makes  the  army  to 
consist  of  5,000  reiters  (instead  of  the  9,000  expected),  4,000  or  5,000  lans- 
quenets, 12,000  Swiss,  and  2,000  or  3,000  French  troops  under  the  Duke  of 
Bouillon.  See  De  Croze,  ii.  23.  The  Recueil  des  choses  memorables,  646, 
agrees  very  nearly  with  the  Duke  of  Guise,  making  the  army  consist  of  5,000 
reiters,  5,000  lansquenets,  12,000  to  15,000  Swiss,  2,000  French  arquebusiers, 
and  400  to  500  horse.  Duplessis  Mornay,  in  a  letter  to  Morlas,  January,  1588, 
also  makes  one  cause  of  failure  to  have  been  that  but  4,000  reiters  were  sent. 
Memoires,  iv.  135.  The  account  in  the  Memoires  de  la  Ligue,  ii.  233,  does 
not  differ  greatly  from  the  above,  but  makes  the  total  strength  of  the  army, 
after  the  union  with  Chiitillon's  troops,  to  have  been  about  35,000  men,  with 
nineteen  pieces  of  artillery  of  various  sizes. 

'■'  "  Accord  et  capitulation  faicte  entre  le  roy  de  Navarre  et  le  due  de  Cazimir, 
pour  la  levee  de  I'armee  des  Reysters  veneus  en  France  en  I'an  1587,"  dated 
"  Fridelshem,  le  11'  jour  de  janvier,  I  an  1587."  Memoires  de  Duplessis 
Mornay,  iv.  56-81.  Casimir  is  here  styled  "  Count  Palatine  of  the  Rhine,  Ad- 
ministrator of  the  electorate  and  palatinate,  Duke  of  Bavaria." 


44:2 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.      Cii.  VII. 


Unfortunately  for  the  Huguenots,  Casimir,  who  by  this  time 
was  certainly  familiar,  by  reason  of  past  expeditions,  with  the 
French  territorj^  to  be  traversed,  could  not  or  would  not  go  in 
person,'  and  deputed  his  authority  to  a  nobleman  far  inferior 
to  himself  in  birth,  and  scarcely  more  than  a  simple  gentleman, 
the  Baron  Dohna — brave,  upright,  and  conscientious. 

Baron  Dohna.  •        t      •  i      i         rr   •         r  ■, 

but  utterly  uuacquamted  with  the  aftan-s  of  the  coun- 
try. Destitute  of  the  influence  which  high  rank  frequently  con- 
fers, he  was  equally  lacking  in  that  mysterious  faculty  which 
enables  some  men  sprung  even  from  the  lowliest  station  to 
control  great  bodies  of  soldiers.  It  was  only  to  be  expected 
that  such  a  person  should  expose  himself  to  misinformation, 
and  fall  a  prey  to  the  evil  counsels  of  injudicious  or  corrupt 
counsellors.'' 

It  was  late  in  August  before  the  army  started  from  its  ren- 
dezvous in  xVlsace  ;  and  the  reiters,  who  had  been  re-enforced 
by  a  small  French  contingent,  would  gladly  have  delayed  fur- 
ther until  the  arrival  of  Clifitillon,  known  to  be  on  his 

The  reiters  ' 

enter  Lor-     -^y^v  from  Gascouv.    Froui  tlic  first,  dissension  pre-' 

raine.  ^  j  'I 

vailed  in  the  ranks.  The  French  were  dissatisfied 
with  the  general  assigned  to  the  joint  force,  and  insisted  that, 
in  default  of  a  German  prince,  the  supreme  control  should  be 
intrusted  to  a  French  prince.  It  was  only  after  much  contro- 
versy and  some  hard  feeling  that  the  nominal  command  was 
reluctantly  conceded  to  the  Duke  of  Bouillon,  whom  youth 
and  inexperience  prevented  from  being  adequate  to  discharge 
with  credit  the  thankless  and  onerous  duty.  The  Duchy  of 
Lorraine  was  reached  after  a  toilsome  march  through  the 
woody  passes  of  the  Yosges  near  Pfalzburg,  and  the  army, 
experienced  at  once  the  inconvenience  of  having  neither  au- 
thoritative leader  nor  settled  plan  of  action.    The  Duke  of 


'  "  Le  due  Casimir  ne  poiivant,  a  cause  de  ses  occupations  domestiques,  ou  ne 
voulant,  pour  I'experience  des  peiues  passees,  se  faire  clief  de  rarmee,"  etc. 
Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  iii.  77.  This  author's  estimate  of  the  Barou  Dohna's 
qualifications  is  fair  and  moderate :  "  homme  de  quelque  experience,  de  grand 
courage,  parmi  les  reistres  mestres  (ma'tres)  d'heureuse  reputation." 

^  "  Le  baron  de  Dono,  son  domestique,  gentilhomme  peu  auctorise  parmi 
eulx."    Duplessis  Moruay  to  Morlas,  Memoires,  iv.  135. 


1587. 


THE  ARMY  OF  THE  REITERS. 


443 


Bouillon  and  the  French  insisted  upon  the  importance  of  tak- 
ing advantage  of  the  present  opportunity  to  lay  waste  the  pos- 
sessions of  the  House  of  Lorraine,  which,  after  having  in  pre- 
vious wars  pretended  to  be  neutral,  had  now  openly  espoused 
the  cause  of  the  League.  There  was  no  more  certain  method 
of  putting  a  speedy  end  to  the  present  struggle,  than  by  reduc- 
ing the  Duke  of  Lorraine  aud  his  kinsman  the  Duke  of  Guise 
to  the  necessity  of  begging  the  King  of  France  to  negotiate  a 
peace  with  the  Huguenots  and  their  German  allies.  On  the 
other  hand,  nothing  could  be  more  ill-advised  than  to  spare 
the  lands  of  the  prime  enemies  of  the  Protestants,  lying  on  the 
very  road  between  Germany  and  France,  and  leave  Sedan,  Ja- 
metz,  and  the  rest  of  the  friendly  Duchy  of  Bouillon  exposed 
to  the  attacks  of  its  implacable  neighbors.  It  was  then  sus- 
pected, as  it  is  now  known,  that  Henry  of  Yalois  secretly  hoped 
that  the  invading  army  would  take  this  course  ;  for  that  prince 
had  no  desire  to  cross  swords  with  the  Germans,  and  only 
longed  for  the  quiet  that  must  follow  the  humiliation  of  the 
League.  Moreover,  the  French  declared  that  in  carrying  fire 
and  swoi'd  throughout  Lorraine  the  army  would  only  be  exe- 
cuting the  instructions  of  the  King  of  Xavarre  himself.' 

For  a  moment  it  seemed  that  this  plan  would  be  pursued  ; 
but  suddenly  Dohna  and  his  council  of  war  declared  for  an- 
other. They  would  march  without  delay  to  meet  the  King  of 
Kavarre,  and  therefore  direct  their  course  toward  the  river 
Loire.  Dohna  maintained  that  these  were  his  instructions 
from  Casimir.""    His  countrymen  supported  him  from  consid- 

'  Duplessis  Mornay  expressly  states  that  it  had  been  ordered  that  the  armj 
should  occupy  itself  for  a  time  in  Lorraine,  "  et  y  prendroit  quelque  pied, 
afin  d'y  laisser  une  espine  a  ceulx  de  la  Ligue,  et  de  monstrer  a  la  France 
qn'on se  prenoit  aulx  aucteurs de  ses  malheurs."  "  Aucontraire,"  he  adds,  "on 
dispute  pour  I'espargner  ;  on  declare  qn'on  ne  soufErira  poinct  que  la  guerre 
s  y  fasse  ;  on  se  bande  pour  la  Lorraine  coutro  tons."    Memoires,  iv.  135. 

^  Nor  was  this  improbable  in  itself.  Casimir  and  the  Duke  of  Lorraine 
were  closely  connected  by  marriage,  and  both  had  been  brought  up  together 
in  the  court  of  Henry  the  Second.  It  was  at  that  time  that  Constable  Mont- 
morency remarked  of  the  young  German  prince  :  "  That  little  fox  will  in  his 
youth  find  the  hens  of  France  so  good,  that  he  may  very  possibly  return  to 
eat  them  some  future  time,  with  a  much  larger  company."  Memoires  de  la 
Huguerye,  iii.  3-5. 


444 


THE  HUOUEXOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.       Cu.  VII. 


erations  of  prudence.  It  was  evidently  safer  for  Germany  to 
have  the  friendship  than  the  hostility  of  the  border  land  of 
Lorraine.  As  for  the  Duke  of  Bouillon,  he  deemed  it  best  to 
yield  the  point  without  too  nnich  opposition.  What  had  in- 
duced Dohna  to  adopt  a  decision  which  was  the  first  of  a  long- 
series  of  blunders  in  which  the  "  Army  of  the  Reiters  "  was 
destined  to  involve  itself  ?  Contemporaries  for  the  most  part 
ascribe  it  to  the  pernicious  suggestions  of  one  Michel  de  la 
Huguerye,  who  had  been  given  to  the  baron,  partly  as  counsel- 
lor, partly,  from  his  familiarity  with  botli  German  and  French, 
as  a  convenient  medium  of  communication  between  the  troops 
of  the  two  nations.  So  uniformly  bad  was  the  advice  given  by 
this  person,  that  the  story,  whether  true  or  a  baseless  surmise, 
gained  currenc}^  that  he  was  a  paid  agent  of  the  House  of  Lor- 
raine.' 

It  was  a  long  and  tedious  journey  that  confronted  the  rei- 
ters,  even  before  the  formidable  stream  of  the  Loire  could  be 
reached.  Xumei-ous  rivers  intervened — the  Meurthe, 

Route  taken  i        -«  r  -«  r  i 

by  the  Ger-   the  Moselle,  the  Meuse,  the  Marne,  the  Aube,  the 

mans.  _  i        o        •  /~^ 

Seine,  the  Arman9on,  the  Serein,  the  Cure,  the 
Yonne.  Upon  the  banks  of  any  one  of  these  their  progress 
might  be  disputed.    The  population  of  the  region  was  hostile, 

'  "L'n  nomme  la  Hugiierie  fiit  suspect  deslors  et  depuis  a  plusieurs,  d'avoir 
porte  grand  nuisance  a  toute  Farmee,  et  rompu  beaucoup  de  desseins  tant 
centre  le  due  de  Lorraine  que  centre  ceux  de  Guise.  II  essaya  de  s'en  ex- 
cuser :  neantmoins  long  temps  depuis  a  este  en  reputation  d'avoir  empli  ses 
cofres  en  ceste  guerre."  Recueil  des  choses  memorables,  647.  See  Agrippa 
d'Aubigne,  iii.  63,  and  Duplessis  Mornay,  ubi  supra,  iv.  136.  Respecting  La 
Huguerye's  calumnious  statements  aboiit  Jeanne  d'Albret,  etc.,  in  his  Me- 
moires,  see  the  Rise  of  the  Huguenots,  ii.  424.  De  Thou  (vii.  17;  had  seen 
tlie  man  and  weighed  his  character:  "Get  homme,  qui  avoit  appris  a  ne 
rougir  de  rien,  avoit  autrefois  ete  precepteur  a  Paris,  ou  je  I'avois  vu  pendant 
ma  jeunesse.  Du  reste  il  6toit  vendu  a  la  Ligue,  et  s'etoit,  dit-on,  laisse  cor- 
rompre  par  le  Due  de  Lorraine,  pour  trahir  ses  allies. "  It  is  only  just,  liowever, 
to  say  that  this  was  not  the  opinion  of  Francois  de  Chatillon,  who,  in  a  letter 
to  Casimir,  February  17,  1588,  after  deploring  the  unfortunate  issue  of  the 
expedition,  remarks:  "  Quoi  qu'on  dise,  M.  de  la  Huguerye  s'y  est  comporte 
en  homme  de  bien  et  en  bonne  conscience,  pour  le  moins  en  tout  ce  que  j'ay 
vu  et  appergu  de  luy."  See  Count  Delaborde,  324,  and  Baron  de  Ruble,  in 
the  admirable  introduction  to  the  third  volume  of  his  edition  of  the  Memoires 
de  la  Huguerye,  xxi.,  etc. 


1587. 


THE  ARMY  OF  THE  REITERS. 


445 


and  in  the  Duke  of  Guise  and  other  leaders  the  German  army 
had  watchful  antagonists  who  did  not,  indeed,  venture  upon 
general  engagements,  hut  who  harassed  it  continually,  and  more 
than  once  inflicted  considerable  loss.  Meanv.'hile  the  general- 
ship of  the  Germans  was  too  incompetent  to  take  advantage  of 
such  opportunities  as  the  reckless  audacity  of  the  other  side 
sometimes  afforded.  On  the  long  march  one  notable  accession 
of  strength  was  gained,  when,  at  the  abbey  of  Saint  Urbain, 
They  are  ^^'^^  Joiuville,  Fran9ois  de  Chatillon  came 

^Frantmlde  having  Safely  accomplished,  with  the  troops  in- 

chatiuon.  trusted  to  him  by  the  King  of  Xavarre,  a  long,  diffi- 
cult, and  perilous  circuit  from  the  neighborhood  of  the  Garonne, 
through  the  whole  length  of  Languedoc,  Dauphiny,  and  Savoy, 
to  Geneva,  and  thence  through  Switzerland  and  the  Spanish 
Franche  Comte  to  Lorraine.  Fresh  dangers  awaited  the  little 
band  of  scarcely  one  hundred  men-at-arms  and  twelve  hundred 
moimted  arquebusiers,  at  the  very  end  of  its  pilgrimage  ;  for  a 
superior  force  of  the  enemy,  having  enveloped  Chatillon  and 
his  troops  in  the  village  of  Gresille  (Grizelle),  compelled  him  to 
retire  for  safety  into  the  castle.  Happily  he  was  rescued  within 
a  few  hours  by  the  timely  arrival  of  friendly  troops.' 

The  gain  of  Chatillon's  troops  was  more  than  counterbalanced 
by  the  losses  sustained  by  the  undisciplined  army,  which,  after 
the  common  fashion  of  the  German  soldiers  of  the 

Want  of  dis-  . 

cipiine,  and  period,  was  more  intent  upon  plundering  such  towns 
and  villages  as  fell  in  its  way,  and  exacting  a  ransom 
from  wealthy  abbeys  like  that  of  Clairvaux,  than  careful  of 
health  and  life.  Many  of  the  reiters  died  because  of  their  im- 
prudence in  feeding  upon  unripe  and  unwholesome  fruit,  and 
many  who  lagged  behind,  half  dead  with  disease,  were  de- 
spatched by  the  peasants.  Yet  it  must  be  confessed  that  the 
Duke  of  Guise  makes  too  great  a  draft  upon  our  faith  when,  in 
his  letters  to  the  King  of  France,  he  swears  that  on  a  single  day 

'  See  the  very  full  account  of  this  expedition  given  by  Count  Jules  Dela- 
horde,  in  his  life  of  Chatillon,  pp.  264-283,  based  upon  the  letters  of  Chatil- 
lon himself  and  the  Memoires  of  his  lieutenant,  M.  de  Saint  Auban.  These 
Memoires  may  also  themselves  be  consulted  with  profit  (Petitot  Collection, 
vol.  43,  pp.  472-482). 


446  THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.       Ch.  VIL 


he  has  seen,  in  following  them,  more  than  eight  hundred  dead 
bodies  left  in  the  wake  of  the  army.' 

Harassed  bj  the  Duke  of  Guise,  who  hung  on  their  right,  and 
by  his  brother,  the  Duke  of  Maj-enne,  who  was  never  far  from 
their  left,  the  Germans  and  their  allies  at  length  found  them- 
selves approaching  the  centi-e  of  the  kingdom.  But,  what  with 
the  self-will  of  the  troops  and  the  weakness  of  their  superiors, 
little  advantage  was  to  be  hoped  from  their  coming.  Scarcely 
had  the  army  crossed  the  river  Yonne  when  it  was 

The  Germans 

disregard  xa-  met  by  a  messcugcr  sent  by  the  King  or  avarre — 
and  push  on  Louis  de  Harlav,  Sieur  de  Monglas.    He  bade  Earon 

to  the  Loue.  ,  .  ^  •  t 

Dohna,  m  Jus  master  s  name,  to  discontinue  his  ad- 
vance, and  take  the  road  to  the  left  which,  at  this  spot,  branches 
off  in  the  direction  of  the  upper  waters  of  the  Loire.  In  vain, 
however,  did  the  envoy  insist ;  the  Germans  were  in  no  mood 
to  eno-age  in  a  toilsome  and  circuitous  march  through  the  Mor- 
van  and  other  mountain  districts,  such  as  those  through  which 
Fj-angois  de  Chatillon  had  lately  made  his  way  and  which  he 
was  so  soon  again  to  traverse.  It  seemed  much  more  pleasant 
to  push  on  to  the  Loire,  where  they  were  informed  that  a  bridge 
might  easily  be  secured  by  the  seizure  of  the  town  of  La  Char- 
ite.  This  hope  was  destined  soon  to  be  crushed.  The  troops 
sent  forward  to  make  themselves  masters  of  La  Charite  arrived 
before  the  place  twenty -four  hours  too  late.  Another  and  a 
more  serious  disappointment  befell  the  Germans  about  the  same 
time.  Knowing;  that  the  war  with  the  Huguenots  had  been 
undertaken  by  the  king  sorely  against  his  will,  the  Baron  Dohna, 
had  confidently  expected  that  his  majesty  would  seize  the  ad- 
vent of  the  reiters  as  a  pretext  for  promptly  concluding  a  peace 
with  Henry  of  Navarre  ;  in  which  event  he  might  have  re- 
turned to  the  Rhine  with  little  loss,  and  with  all  the  substantial 
fruits  of  a  victorious  campaign.    Instead  of  this,  he  discovered 


'  De  Croze,  ii.  27-29.  The  course  taken  by  the  Army  of  the  Reiters  may  be 
traced  on  the  map,  from  Pfalzburg,  through  or  near  Saarbruck,  Blamont,  Lnne- 
ville,  Bayon,  Pont  Saint  Vincent,  Saint  Urbaiu,  Chaumont  eu  Bassigny, 
Clairvaux,  Chateau  Vilain,  Ch&tillou  sur  Seine,  Laignes,  Ancy  le  Franc, 
Tanlay,  Noyers,  Vermauton,  Mailly  la  Ville,  to  Neuvy,  etc.,  on  the  river 
Loire. 


1587. 


THE  ARMY  OP  THE  REITERS. 


447 


that  the  only  practical  result  of  the  German  irruption  had  thus 
far  been  to  shame  Henry  of  Yalois  into  taking  the  field  in  per- 
son, and  thus  bringing  about  an  apparent  community  of  purpose 
between  the  royalists  and  the  League.  In  fact,  he  found  that, 
to  the  two  merciless  enemies  who  still  hung  upon  his  flanks, 
leaving  him  no  rest  by  day  or  by  night,  he  must  now  add  a 
third  enemy  in  the  king's  own  forces  posted  in  his  front  at  Gien 
and  guarding  every  crossing  of  the  Loire. 

Here  again  Monglas  gave  the  Germans  good  but  fruitless 
advice.  Since  they  had  been  unwilling  to  obey  the  Bearnais's 
commands  by  taking  the  route  of  the  Upper  Loire,  let  them  at 
least  not  shrink  from  making  a  vigorous  attempt  to  cross  the 
stream  where  they  were.  This,  he  assured  them,  was  quite 
practicable,  for  the  fords  were  numerous  and  the 
on  going  west-  f orccs  of  the  enemy  would  not  be  likely  to  offer  any 
insurmountable  obstacle.  But  Xavarre's  envoy  was 
as  imsuccessful  in  persuading  his  inti-actable  allies  now  as  he 
had  been  in  the  first  instance.  The  reiters  absolutely  refused 
to  make  the  venture.  Either  they  would  turn  westward  along 
the  northern  bank  of  the  Loire,  or  they  would  go  home  by  the 
road  they  had  come. 

There  was  no  help  for  it.  The  headstrong  Germans  must 
be  permitted  to  have  their  own  yvnj,  plunging  still  farther  into 
the  most  populous  districts  of  France,  with  no  visible  plan,  and 
with  little  likelihood  of  being  able  ultimately  to  extricate  them- 
.selves  from  the  pitfalls  lying  in  their  path.  The  Frenchmen  in 
their  company,  not  being  able  to  lead,  were  fain  to  content  them- 
selves with  following  their  unruly  associates,  and  diminishing, 
if  possible,  the  effects  of  the  inevitable  disaster  in  store  for  them. 

The  Duke  of  Guise,  as  has  been  seen,  had  never  been  far 
away  from  the  army  of  the  reiters  since  it  entered  France.  De- 
Giiise'scor-  tcrmiued  to  inflict  the  utmost  damage  possible  upon 
wkhThe""^  the  intruders,  he  was  no  less  resolute  that  the  King 
Spaniards.  ^£  Pj-ance  sliould  receive  little  assistance  and  no  glory 
at  his  hands.  To  the  Spanish  ambassador,  with  whom  he  main- 
tained an  unbroken  correspondence,  he  revealed  the  intensity 
of  the  hatred  he  entertained  toward  his  lawful  sovereign,  and 
the  profound  distrust  with  which  he  viewed  every  action  of  the 


448  THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.      Cn.  VIL 


Yalois  prince.  It  was  to  Philip  of  Spain  that  lie  turned  for 
help,  pleading  for  the  payment  of  those  sums  of  money  without 
which  he  declared  himself  unable  to  meet  his  necessary  ex- 
penses. He  could  not  see,  he  said,  what  difference  there  was 
between  the  present  condition  of  things  and  that  contemplated 
by  the  treaty  of  Joinville.  If  the  house  of  Guise  remained 
under  arms,  it  would  compel  the  King  of  France  to  continue 
the  war,  and  so  the  tranquillity  of  the  Netherlands  and  of 
Philip's  affairs,  so  far  as  the  French  were  concerned,  would  be 
assured.  "  So  long  as  we  keep  the  king  thus  busily  employed," 
added  the  duke,  with  undisguised  satisfaction,  "  it  will  not  be 
in  his  power  to  turn  his  thoughts  elsewhere.'"  Meantime,  if 
Philip  should  withhold  his  proniised  aid,  save  in  case  of  the 
declaration  of  open  war  between  Henry  of  Yalois  and  the 
League,  that  wily  prince  would  continue  to  conduct  his  hos- 
tilities in  so  covert  a  manner  that  the  latter  would  never  be  able 
to  break  the  public  peace  without  apparent  injustice,  and  when 
abandoned  by  all  its  supporters  ;  or  else  he  would  wait  until  six 
times  as  large  a  sum  of  money  would  not  raise  the  forces  at  its 
command  to  their  present  degree  of  effectiveness. 

But  while  thus  patiently  holding  forth  his  hand  for  the  alms 
which  his  Catholic  Majesty  might  be  pleased  to  dole  out  to  his 
very  humble  petitioner  and  pensioner,  the  Duke  of  Guise  took 
good  care  to  earn  Philip's  esteem  and  confidence  by  sedulously 
disobeying  Henry's  commands.  "  The  king,"  he  wrote  to  Men- 
doza,  a  few  days  before  the  events  which  we  are  next  to  con- 
sider, "  has  sent  me  word  to  annoy  the  enemy  as  much  as  pos- 
sible, and  to  make  ready  to  join  him.  In  order  to  find  an 
excuse  for  not  doing  so,  therefore,  I  place  the  enemy  between 
him  and  myself ;  and  I  have  sent  to  hasten  the  Duke  of  Lor- 
raine. If  he  succeed  in  coming,  we  shall  have  an  army  stronger 
than  his  and  than  that  of  the  enemy.  To-day  I  shall  effect  a 
junction  with  my  brother  and  cousins,  so  as  to  continue  to  do 
them  damage.    After  that  I  shall  see  what  is  to  be  done." " 

'  "Tant  que  nous  tiendrons  le  roy  en  ces  exercices,  il  n'est  possible  qu'il 
puisse  penser  ailleurs." 

'-  Guise  to  Mendoza,  from  camp  at  Joiguy,  October  20,  1587,  De  Croze,  Ap- 
pendix, ii.  296-298. 


1587. 


THE  ARMY  OF  THE  REITERS. 


449 


Just  one  week  after  the  date  of  this  remarkable  letter,  which 
casts  a  flood  of  light  upon  the  attitude  of  the  parties  in  the 
war  that  was  desolating  France,  the  first  serious  en- 

i£o  attfickB 

the  reiters  couuter  of  arms  occun-ed.  The  scene  was  the  village 
of  Yimorj,  not  far  from  Montargis,  former  abode  of 
llenee  of  France,  Duchess  of  Ferrara,  where,  in  previous  wars, 
a  hospitality  worthy  of  the  daughter  of  Louis  the  Twelfth  had 
been  dispensed  to  the  poor  Huguenots.  Faithful  to  his  policy 
of  keeping  the  enemy  between  himself  and  the  monarch  whom 
he  wished  to  avoid.  Guise  had  advanced  to  Courtenay,  and 
thence  to  the  vicinity  of  Montargis.  The  little  ]-iver  Loing  in- 
tervened between  him  and  the  reiters,  protecting  him  from  any 
surprise  on  their  part,  but  offering  no  impediment  to  him,  com- 
manding as  he  did  all  the  passages.  The  Germans  were  barely 
through  their  supper  one  evening — it  was  about  seven  o'clock 
and  already  quite  dark — when  the  Duke  of  Guise  and  his 
brother,  with  a  strong  band  of  horse,  suddenly  dashed  in  among 
them,  confidently  expecting  to  cut  to  pieces  one  of  the  divisions 
of  the  Protestant  army.  But  though  there  was  some  terror  for 
the  moment  and  much  loss  of  baggage,  the  Baron  Dohna  speed- 
ily rallied  his  men  and  repulsed  the  assailants,  with  whom  it 
might  have  gone  hard  had  not  a  violent  rain  and  the  consequent 
darkness,  together  with  the  lack  of  familiarity  of  the  strangers 
with  their  surroundings,  effectually  prevented  the  pm-suit.  As 
it  was,  the  German  general  and  Mayenne  came  into  a  personal 
combat,  in  which  the  former  received  a  sabre  cut  upon  the  fore- 
head that  might  well  have  proved  serious,  while  the  latter  was 
stunned  by  two  well-aimed  pistol-shots  that  struck  the  chin- 
He  publishes  pi^co  of  his  helmet.  It  was  clearly  a  very  indecisive 
raunis^of  his  ^ctlon,"  as  Guise  virtually  admitted  on  the  morrow  by 
victory.  sending  the  baron  an  offer  to  exchange  the  dead,  and 
the  prisoners  and  banners  taken  on  both  sides.  I^one  the  less 
did  the  Lorraine  prince,  with  whom  neither  modesty  nor  verac- 


'  "  Au  reste  cette  attaque  fut  trcs-sanglante,  et  ne  couta  pas  moins  cher  au 
Due  de  Mayenne  qu'aux  ennemis."  De  Thou,  vii.  (book  87)  34.  Cayet  makes 
Guise  and  Mayenne  lose  240  men  and  the  reiters  but  150.  Clironologie  Nove- 
naire,  41. 

Vol.  I.— 29 


■ioO  THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.      Cn.  VIL 


ity  was  a  virtue  lield  in  high  repute,  publish  far  and  wide  sto- 
ries of  a  signal  victory.  To  Mendoza,  in  particular,  who  was 
dispenser  of  Philip  the  Second's  bounty,  he  reported,  in  a  let- 
ter written  three  days  later,  a  marvellous  success.  Contrary  to 
the  advice  of  everybody,  he  said,  he  had  attacked  a  quarter  of 
the  enemy  containing  twenty-two  cornets  of  reiters,  whom  he 
had  defeated,  cutting  to  pieces  more  than  seven  hundred  of 
their  number,  not  to  speak  of  the  wounded,  and  capturing  the 
principal  colonels  and  captains,  and  more  than  twelve  hundred 
horse,  with  an  infinite  quantity  of  booty  and  chariots.*' ' 
However  idle  the  boast,  it  accomplished  its  end  in  inflaming 
still  more  the  enthusiastic  devotion  of  the  silly  populace  of 
Paris  to  the  House  of  Guise,  while  sensible  men,  able  to  make 
a  liberal  discount  from  the  claims  of  the  lying  League,  shook 
their  heads  and  felt  sure  of  only  one  thing — that,  whichever 
side  mio;ht  gain,  the  king  was  sure  to  lose." 

As  the  army  advanced  farther,  the  ditficulties  from  within 
and  from  without  multiplied  from  day  to  day.  Bad  as  were  the 
The  Germans  ^^ads  througli  a  district  converted  by  copious  rains 
increaSlig"  ^^^^  ^  quagmire,  so  deep  that  the  Swiss  and  German 
difficulty.  fQQi;  soldiers  lost  their  shoes,  and  even  the  horses 
of  the  reiters,^  if  we  may  believe  the  chronicles,  were  at  every 
step  liable  to  suffer  a  similar  disaster,  the  divisions  and  dis- 


'  Guise  to  Mendoza,  from  camp  on  the  Loire,  October  30, 1587,  De  Croze,  ii., 
pieces  justificatives,  299. 

^  Letter  of  Cavriana  (who  styles  tlie  affair  a  puny  victory — "  una  vittorietta  "), 
November  1,  1587.  Negociations  avec  la  Toscane,  iv.  731.  See  the  accounts 
in  the  Memoires  de  la  Ligue,  ii.  241,  242  ;  Recueil  des  choses  memorables,  649  ; 
Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  iii.  G3,  64;  De  Thou,  ubi  supra;  ''  Sommaire  discours  de 
toutes  les  deff aictes des  Reistres,"  etc.,  ia  Cimber  et  Danjou,  Archives  curieuses, 
xi.  267-275.  Lestoile,  i.  233,  caustically  observes  that  more  reiters  by  nearly 
two  thousand  were  reported  to  have  been  routed  at  Vimory  than  had  entered 
France  altogether.  As  for  Etienne  Pasquier's  panegyrical  letter  I  Ed.  Feugere, 
ii.  300,  301),  it  is  only  less  inaccurate  than  Davila's  account  (324,  325),  which 
makes  Guise's  gain  in  horses  captured  more  than  twice  as  large  as  that  claimed 
by  the  duke  himself.  Almost  the  only  loss  of  the  German  general  on  which 
all  parties  were  agreed,  was  of  the  strange  present  of  two  camels  and  two 
kettledrums  (such,  says  Caj'et,  as  the  Turkish  bashaws  are  accustomed  to  have 
carried  in  front  of  them  when  in  command  of  armies),  intended  by  Dohna  for 
I'le  King  of  Navarre.  '  Cayet,  ubi  supra. 


1587. 


THE  ARMY  OF  THE  REITERS. 


451 


sensions  prevailing  among  the  troops  were  still  worse.  Not  in- 
aptly does  Sully  liken  the  ponderous  army  in  its  uncertain  prog- 
ress to  some  huge  hulk  of  a  vessel  left  to  drift  at  the  mercy 
of  the  waves.'  The  Swiss,  no  such  dullards  as  to  be  blind  to 
the  ruin  in  which  the  incompetency  of  their  leaders  must  infal- 
libly end,  had  early  taken  the  alarm.  Under  the  circumstances 
it  is  not  altogether  to  be  wondered  at  that,  even  before  the  in- 
cident at  Yimory,  they  fell  in  with  an  artful  suggestion  that 
they  shoxdd  send  deputies  to  the  King  of  France,  to  inform 
his  majesty  of  the  reasons  for  which  they  had  entered  his  do- 
minions. This  step  having  been  taken,  the  Duke  of  Nevers  and 
others  had  an  opiiortunity  for  hitrigue  which  they 

The  Sotss  .      .  .  , 

Bend  deputies  Were  not  slow  iu  improving.    The  issue  could  not  be 

to  the  king.      ii^-i        x  Trv>      i  -i  in- 

doubtiul.  It  was  not  dimcult  to  mduce  the  Swiss  to 
believe  that  they  had  been  enlisted  under  false  pretences.  Was 
not  the  very  monarch  who,  they  had  been  assured,  had  been 
compelled  by  the  rebellious  League,  contrary  to  his  will,  to  take 
up  arms  against  his  Huguenot  subjects,  now  liimself  at  the  head 
of  his  forces,  opposing  the  advance  of  the  very  army  that  had 
come  to  espouse  the  Huguenot  cause  ?  Was  he  not  contending 
for  the  same  objects  as  Guise  and  Mayenne  ?  Henry  of  Valois 
himself,  much  as  he  would  certainly  have  been  delighted  had 
his  old  Swiss  allies  been  employed  in  humbling  the  power  of 
Lorraine  and  the  League,  on  the  outskirts  of  France,  could  not, 
save  at  the  risk  of  manifest  dishonor,  treat  as  friends  the  per- 
verse invaders  who  had  ill-advisedly  penetrated  to  the  very 
neighborhood  of  his  capital.  It  is  not  surprising  that,  when  the 
envoys  were  admitted  to  his  presence,  the  king  showed  them 
"  a  very  bad  countenance,"  or  that  he  reproached  them  with 
some  bitterness  for  violating  their  oath  and  taking  arms  against 
him.  "  I  am  King  of  France,"  said  he  ;  "  I  wear  on  my  head 
They  deter-  ^^^^  crown.  I  am  uot  a  mere  shadow."  In  short, 
mine  to  re-    after  a  fortni";ht  or  more,  during;  which  messengers 

turn  to  o  '  o  o 

Switzerland,  wsnt  to  and  fro  between  the  royal  camp  and  the 
quarters  of  the  Swiss,  the  latter  adopted  a  I'esolution,  which  the 
joint  remonstrances  of  the  Baron  Dohna  and  of  the  French 


'  fficonomies  royales,  i.  201. 


452 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE. 


Cii.  VII. 


Protestants  were  imable  to  shake,  to  return  to  Switzerland  un- 
der the  guarantee  of  the  king's  protection  during  the  march. 

The  defection  of  the  Swiss  has  natural!}-  met  on  all  sides  with 
severe  and  merited  animadversion,  as  bearing  unmistakable 
marks  of  fickleness,  if  not  of  positive  cowardice.  Yet  some 
weight  ought  certainly  to  be  given  to  the  remark  of  the  historian 
Agrippa  d'Aiibigne,  who,  with  all  the  facts  of  the  case  before 
him,  and  fully  understanding  the  difficulties  of  their  situation, 
charitabl}'  concedes  that  never  had  any  Swiss  mercenaries  so 
nearly  a  justification  of  their  course  in  coming  to  a  separate  ar- 
rangement with  the  enemy.' 

Through  the  whole  autumn  the  army  of  the  reiters  had  been 
aimlessly  pushing  westward.  Now,  near  the  end  of  JSTovember, 
it  found  itself  only  two  leagues  short  of  the  city  of  Chartres, 
with  what  ulterior  destination  no  one  seemed  to  know.  The 
new  resolution  adopted  by  the  Swiss,  together  with  the  evident 
folly  of  persisting  in  a  course  that  only  took  them  farther  from 
all  hope  of  meeting  the  friendly  forces  of  the  King  of  Navarre, 
at  length  determined  the  Germans  to  retrace  their  steps,  with 
the  possible  purpose  of  seeking  by  the  Upper  Loire  a  passage 
into  Southern  France.    Even  now,  however,  this  un- 

The  Germans  rr        t  i  i 

begin  a  re-     tortunate  army  was  not  suTiered  to  go  unharmed. 

Barely  had  it  turned  its  face  eastward  when  a  new 
disaster  befell  it.  Baron  Dolina  lodged  his  guards  in  the  lit- 
tle walled  town  of  Auneau,  ten  or  twelve  miles  east  of  Char- 
tres. The  peasants  of  the  neighborhood  had  shut  themselves 
up  in  the  castle  overlooking  the  town,  and  had  not  been  mo- 
lested, on  their  engagement  to  furnish  the  reiters  with  the  pro- 
visions the  latter  might  require.  Dohna  was  a  careless  general. 
He  had  not  informed  himself  of  the  fact  that  the  Duke  of 
Guise,  having  marched  all  day  toward  Auneau,  had  secretly 
thrown  into  the  castle  a  body  of  arquebusiers,  while  he  himself 


'  "  Je  dirai  pourtant  a  la  descliarge  de  cette  nation,  qii'aiant  oui  alleguer 
leurs  raisons  dans  le  conseil  des  Princes,  estant  bien  connu  combien  ils  estoient 
mal  conduits,  jamais  les  Suisses  n'ont  fait  capitulation  a  part  (comme  il  leur 
est  arrive  quelques  fois)  de  laquelle  ils  puissent  monstrer  plus  justifiantes  rai- 
sons. "  Histoire  uni  verselle,  iii.  Go.  The  most  full  contemporary  account  of  the 
Swiss  episode  is  found  in  the  Mcmoires  de  la  Ligue,  ii.  239-245,  247,  248-250. 


1587. 


THE  ARMY  OF  THE  REITERS. 


453 


waited  outside  o£  the  town  ready  to  fall  on  the  Germans  at  day- 
break. His  bold  plan  succeeded  in  every  point.  Early  on  the 
morning  of  the  twenty-fifth  of  Jsoveniber,  a  simultaneous  attack 
was  made  from  the  castle  and  from  the  country  side.  The  gates 
were  found  open  and  unprotected,  for  no  thought  had 

They  are  sur-  ^  c  ^  o 

prised  by      bccu  ffiven  to  them  at  a  moment  when  the  army  was 

Guise  at  Au-  o  , 

neau.  about  to  marcli  out.    The  ponderous  "chariots"  or 

wagons  of  the  Germans  encumbered  the  narrow  streets ;  the 
reiters  themselves  were  engaged  in  bringing  out  of  the  houses 
the  troublesome  effects  without  which  they  never  deigned  to  go 
to  war.  When  they  had  hastily  thrown  themselves  into  the  sad- 
dle, they  knew  not  whither  to  go  for  combat  or  escape.  Dohna 
and  seven  or  eight  of  his  men,  fortunate  in  reaching  a  gate  early, 
fought  their  way  through  and  reached  the  open  country.  A 
few  others  clambered  to  the  walls,  and  thence  threw  themselves 
into  the  moat.  All  the  rest  of  the  detachment  of  reiters  that 
had  passed  the  night  at  Auneau  were  either  killed  or  taken  pris- 
oners. The  loss  of  the  Germans  was  considerable,  but  it  was  not 
irretrievable.  Had  the  conduct  of  the  army  been  even  passably 
fair,  the  disaster  might  have  been  forgotten  in  the  glory  of  sub- 
.sequent  successes.  As  it  was,  the  Germans  lost  all  heart.  It 
is  doubtful,  indeed,  whether  had  the  king  desired  to  effect  the 
Titter  destruction  of  the  foreigners  from  the  other  side  of  the 
Khine,  he  might  not  have  virtually  accomplished  it.  But  he 
was  too  shrewd  to  press  an  advantage  of  which  the  glory  would 
inure  altogether  to  the  Duke  of  Guise  and  the  League.  As  for 
^  .  Guise,  his  secret  correspondence  with  the  Spanish 

Gnise  accuses  ,  ^  , 

the  king  of     ambassador  sufficiently  testifies  to  the  bitterness  with 

throwing  ob-        i  •  i     i  i 

ptacicsinhis  wliicli  he  cliafcd  at  the  impediments  thrown  in  his 

way,  ,  ^ 

way  by  his  royal  master.  To  IVIendoza  he  declared 
that  what  induced  him  so  promptly  to  resolve  on  making  the 
attack  at  Auneau  was  the  certain  advice  he  liad  received  of  the 
intention  of  the  King  of  France,  "  which  was  to  pursue  and 
conclude  treaties  with  the  strangers,  and  bring  under  immediate 
consideration  a  peace  which  this  happy  enterprise  now  averted."  ' 


'  "  Et  faire  parler  a  Tinstant  d'une  paix  que  j'ay  divertie  par  ceste  heureuse 
entreprise. " 


45-i  THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.      Cu.  VII. 


He  assured  hiiu  that  he  had  lost  but  four  of  his  men,  while  the 
enemy  had  lost  the  choicest  part,  the  very  soul  of  their  army, 
and  the  remainder  had  not  dared  even  to  come  to  the  rescue. 
Their  flight  had  been  disorderly,  but  the  Duke  of  Epernon, 
commanding  the  king's  forces,  though  following  them  day  by 
day,  and  never  more  than  from  two  to  four  leagues  distant,  had 
not  suffered  an  arquebuse  to  be  fired  or  a  lance  to  be  broken. 
Indignant  at  such  evident  cowardice  and  treachery,  whole  com- 
panies of  Epernon's  soldiers  had  forsaken  him  with  standards 
flying  and  without  leave.  When  the  Dukes  of  Mercann-  and 
Isemours  offered  to  join  him  with  five  or  six  hundred  lances, 
Epernon  resolutely  declined  their  assistance,  and  induced  the 
king  to  recall  them  ;  and,  on  learning  that  Mandelot  and  other 
friends  of  Guise  were  about  to  attack  the  retreating  Germans, 
the  perfidious  favorite  of  the  king  at  once  began  to  treat  with 
the  enemy  to  prevent  their  entire  discomfiture.  I  rejoice," 
truculently  added  the  Duke  of  Guise,  "  that  if  they  pass  through 
my  government  (Champagne)  or  through  Lorraine,  I  shall  attack 
them,  at  any  cost,  and  without  regard  for  any  promise  which 
may  have  been  given  to  them,  and  that  I  shall  put  an  end  to 
them." ' 

The  tidings  conveyed  by  the  duke  to  Philip  the  Second's 
ambassador  in  Paris  were  only  too  true.    Disheartened  by  the 
mismanagement  of  their  leaders  and  by  the  desertion 

The  reiters  m  J 

accept  a  siife-      jjjg  gwiss,  the  rciters  were  not  long  in  resolving  to 

conduct  to  '  OCT 

Germany.  avail  theiiiselves  of  the  liberal  offer  of  a  safe-conduct 
made  to  them  in  the  king's  name,  provided  they  would  return 
to  Germany.'  Thus  did  the  great  "Army  of  the  Reiters," 
upon  which  such  magnificent  hopes  had  been  founded,  come  to 
an  impotent  conclusion.^    As  an  anonymous  chronicler  of  the 

'  See  the  instructive  letters  of  Guise  to  Mendoza  of  December  5  and  11, 
1587.  De  Croze  (documents  inedits),  ii.  300-303.  In  the  second  letter  Guise 
significantly  remarks:  "  Le  roi  pense  que  ces  leistres  dehors,  il  nous  man- 
quera  beaucoup  de  subject  d  entreprendre." 

''It  is  unnecessary  to  give  in  detail  the  articles  of  the  "capitulation,"  which 
the  curious  may  read  in  the  Mtjmoires  de  la  Ligue,  ii.  260,  261.  It  is  date<l 
December  8,  1587. 

^  "  La  susditte  armee  s'estant  ruinee,"  pithily  observes  brave  Francois  de  la 
Noue,  Bras-de-fer,  "plus  par  elle  mesme  que  par  I'efFort  de  ses  contraires." 


1587. 


THE  ARMY  OF  THE  REITERS. 


455 


period  piously  remarks  :  "  Tliis  army  was  in  France  the  terror  of 
some  and  the  liope  of  others  ;  howbeit,  both  parties  were  deceived 
in  their  expectation.  God  made  use  of  it  as  an  example  to  teach 
man,  on  the  one  hand,  that  lie  has  many  means  of  chastising 
him  when  lie  pleases,  and,  on  the  other,  that  he  is  ill-assured 
who  trusts  in  man  and  makes  an  arm  of  flesh  his  strength."'  ' 

The  disappointment  of  the  Huguenots  was  onl}'  less  than  the 
indignation  of  Guise.  Kot  merely,"  he  wrote  to  Mendoza, 
T  "  has  Epernon  placed  himself  between  the  reitersand 

Indignation  L  Jr 

of  the  League,  j^jg^  j,^  Order  to  favor  them  during  the  fine  treaty  he 
has  concluded  with  them,  but  he  has  given  them  money,  so  as 
to  maintain  the  credit  of  the  heretics  with  the  strangers,  and  a 
thousand  arquebusiers  of  the  king's  own  guard  and  ten  com- 
panies of  gendarmes  to  accompany  their  retreat.  It  is  strange 
that  the  forces  of  the  Catholics  nmst  be  emploj'ed  to  recom- 
pense the  heretics  for  the  evils  they  have  inflicted  upon  France. 
Every  good  Frenchman  and  true  Catholic  must  feel  himself 
offended."  '  To  these  words  the  Duke  of  Guise  added,  in  the 
letter  just  quoted,  the  statement,  which,  but  for  the  sequel, 
might  have  appeared  unimportant  enough :  I  have  joined 
the  Marquis  da  Font,  as  a  simple  soldier,  having  dismissed  my 
troops.  But  for  the  king's  strange  declaration,  I  should  have 
attacked  the  heretics  and  those  who  wished  to  preserve  them." 

Attended  by  the  royal  troops,  and  effectually  guarded  from 
the  assaults  of  the  followers  of  the  League,  the  remains  of  the 
army  that  had  marched  so  boldly  into  France,  three  or  four 
months  before,  made  an  ignominious  exit  by  way  of  the  ter- 
ritories of  the  Duke  of  Savoy  and  of  the  free  city  of  Geneva. 
Balked  of  his  prey,  the  Duke  of  Guise  looked  around  for  some 
Guise  and  Du  uuprotectcd  dlstrlct  upou  which  to  vent  his  anger  and 
JJ"e"countTor  disappointment.  Such  a  district  he  found  close  at  hand, 
Montbeiiird.  ^j^^  go^^ity  of  Montbcliard,  which  at  the  period  now 
under  consideration  had  not  as  yet  been  incorporated  in  the  king- 
dom of  France.  Ko  better  excuse  was  needed  than  that  the  cousin 

Declaration  de  Monsieiir  de  la  None,  sur  la  prise  des  armes  pour  la  juste  de- 
fense des  villes  de  Sedan,  etc.    Memoires  de  la  Ligiie,  ii.  330. 
'  Memoires  de  la  Ligue,  ii.  233. 

^  Mucius  (Guise)  to  Mendoza,  December  IG,  1587,  De  Croze,  ii.  303. 


456 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.      Ch.  VII. 


of  the  Duke  of  "Wiirtemberg,  to  whom  Montbeliard  belonged,  was 
in  alliance  with  the  Ilngnenots  and  had  favored  their  enterprise. 
Guise's  troopers  and  those  of  his  kinsman,  the  Marquis  of  Pont 
a  Mousson,"  had  not  received  their  pay  ;  it  was  convenient,  and, 
it  would  seem,  not  contrary  to  the  religious  or  humane  instincts 
of  their  princely  leaders,  to  sacrifice  to  tliem  an  unolfending 
population  in  lieu  of  wages.  What  atrocities  they  perpetrated 
I  cannot  here  undertake  to  narrate  ;  and  the  reader  curious  of 
such  things  must  be  referred  to  the  contemporary  account,  in 
which  the  recital  fills  more  than  a  score  of  closely  printed 
pages.^  Suffice  it  to  say  that  no  savage  device  for  extracting 
money  from  reluctant  peasants  already  burdened  by  oppres- 
sive taxation,  was  wanting ;  while  of  all  the  most  repulsive 
forms  of  lewdness  and  unnatural  crime  that  history  has  unfor- 
tunately been  compelled  from  time  to  time  to  chronicle,  scarcely 
one  can  be  imagined  of  which  instances  are  not  here  recorded. 
"It  was  necessary,"  wrote  a  Huguenot,  some  years  later,  by  way 
of  apology  for  committing  to  paper  so  disgraceful  a  story,  "  that 
our  posterit}^  should  know  how  insane  the  adherents  of  the 
League  have  been  to  desire  for  king  one  of  a  family  that  has 
in  so  many  different  ways  declared  itself  the  sworn  enemy  of 
honor,  humanity,  nature,  and  every  form  of  religion."' 

There  was  one  Frenchman  who,  indignant  beyond  measure 
at  the  course  of  events,  had  absolutely  refused  to  have  anything 
to  do  with  the  offers  of  the  Duke  of  Epernon,  and  disdained  to 
take  refuge  beyond  the  Rhine  from  an  enemy  at  whose  hands 


'  Henry  II. ,  Marquis  of  Pont  a  Mousson,  afterward  Duke  of  Lorraine  and 
of  Bar,  was  the  eldest  son  of  Charles  III.,  reigning  Duke  of  Lorraine.  He  was 
born  November  20,  1563.  He  married,  January  31,  1599,  Catharine  of  Bour- 
bon, only  sister  of  Henry  IV.  of  France.  On  the  present  occasion  he  appears 
as  a  merciless  patron  of  murder  and  rapine.  On  a  subsequent  page  of  this 
historj-  he  will  be  seen  a  slave  of  superstition  and  bigotry.  The  two  phases  of 
bis  character  were  not  inconsistent  with  each  other. 

-  "  Histoire  tragique  des  cruautez  et  meschancetez  horribles  commises  en  la 
Comte  de  Montbeliard  sur  la  fin  de  I'an  1587  et  commencement  de  I'an  1588, 
par  les  troupes  des  sieurs  de  Guise  et  Marquis  de  Pont,  fils  aisne  du  Due  de 
Lorraine.  Nouvellement  mise  en  lumiere."  (Comprised  in  the  Memoires  de  la 
Ligue.  iii.  705-732.) 

^  Memoires  de  la  Ligue,  iii.  704. 


1587. 


THE  ARMY  OF  THE  REITERS. 


457 


lie  asked  no  favors.  Chatillon  had  come  many  a  mile  to  join 
the  auxiliary  army,  despising  alike  the  dangers  thrown  in  his  way 

by  nature  and  the  greater  perils  that  might  await  him 
of  Franvois  de  from  watchful  enemies.    He  now  prepared  to  return 

to  Languedoc  by  a  not  less  adventurous  path.  So  long 
as  there  had  been  any  hope  of  bringing  the  Germans  to  a  manly 
course,  he  had  remained  with  them.  At  Lancie,  not  far  from 
Macon,  he  made  a  last  attempt  to  overcome  their  repugnance 
against  striking  southward  in  the  direction  of  the  King  of  Ka- 
varre.  He  pointed  in  the  distance  to  the  hills  of  Vivarais,  and 
pledged  to  them  his  life  that  in  four  days,  if  they  would  but 
follow  his  lead,  he  would  place  them  beyond  the  reach  of  harm.' 
He  assured  them  that,  acquainted  as  he  was  with  the  forces  at 
the  disposal  of  the  governor  of  Lyons  and  other  neighboring 
royal  officers,  they  had  nothing  to  fear  from  any  attempts  to 
hinder  their  progress.  But  finding  remonstrance  and  persua- 
^.  ^  .  sion  alike  fruitless,  and  the  Germans  determined  to 
retreat  to     concludo  the  compact  with  the  Duke  of  Epernon,  to 

which  allusion  has  already  been  made,  Chatillon 
promptly  retired  from  the  camp  of  his  timid  associates.  It  was 
quite  another  thing  for  a  slender  troop  of  horse  to  elude  Man- 
delot  and  his  associates  fi-om  what  it  would  have  been  to  march 
through  the  same  territories  with  an  overwhelming  force  of 
Germans  and  French  combined  ;  yet  Chatillon  accomplished 
the  feat.  In  five  days  from  his  parting  with  the  reiters,  he 
found  himself  safe  and  sound  in  a  castle  in  Vivarais  held  by  a 
friendly  garrison  of  Protestants." 

With  Chatillon's  safe  arrival  in  Languedoc  the  story  of  the 
Army  of  the  Reiters  reached  its  natural  though  unexpected  con- 
clusion. Most  of  the  French  nobles  who  had  accompanied  the 
Germans  had  managed  to  escape,  in  various  directions.  The 
young  Duke  of  Bouillon  had  taken  refuge  in  the  city  of  Geneva 


'  The  details  of  his  plan  are  given  in  the  Memoires  de  la  Ligiie,  ii.  257. 
It  is  the  judgment  of  competent  military  critics  that  Chatillon's  retreat 
was  one  of  the  most  brilliant  affairs  of  the  kind  known  in  history.  Count 
Jules  Delaborde,  in  his  life  of  Chatillon,  310-820,  reproduces  the  whole  of 
Saint  Aubau's  interesting  account  of  the  entire  movement. 


458 


THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  HENRY  OP  NAVARRE.      Ch.  VII. 


only  to  die  within  a  few  days  of  disease  brought  on  by  fatigue 
and  exposure.' 


'  On  the  Army  of  the  Eeiters,  the  following  authorities,  among  others,  may 
be  consulted  with  profit :  Recueil  des  choses  memorables,  646-654  ;  De  Thou, 
vii.  (book  87)  17-46 ;  Pasquier's  letter  "  surl'arrivee  des  reiters,"  etc.,  OEnvres 
choisies  (Feugere),  ii.  300 ;  Sommaire  discours,  in  Cimber  et  Danjou,  Archives 
curieuses,  xi.  267-275  ;  Memoires  de  la  Ligue,  ii.  232-262  ;  Agrippa  d'Au- 
bigne,  iii.  62-68  ;  Davila,  318-328  ;  Memoires  inedits  de  Michel  de  la  Hugue- 
rye,  publics  d'apres  les  MSS.  aiitographes,  par  le  Baron  A.  de  Ruble  (vol.  iii. 
1880)  ;  Count  Jules  Delaborde,  "  Franijois  de  Chastillon,  Comte  de  Coligny  " 
(Paris.  1886).  The  last  gives,  in  an  appendix,  469-491,  the  original  narra- 
tive of  the  expedition  sent  by  Chatillon  to  Henry  of  Navarre,  under  date  of 
Moutpellier,  December  31,  1587,  from  the  MS.  in  the  National  Library  at 
Paris.  It  li^d  already  been  noticed  by  Baron  de  R.uble  that  the  account  in 
tlie  Me'moires  de  la  Ligue  is  in  fact  only  a  copy  of  this  narrative,  which  the 
editor  (probably  Simon  Goulart)  used  without  giving  any  clue  as  to  the  source 
whence  he  derived  his  information. 


END  OF  V0LU3IE  I. 


Date  Due 

Si 

m 

PRINTED 

IN  U.  S.  A. 

